ll-arnjn~ bout L.tn 'ua 't'
L t'n..r. Iltlilor .
For cI lull I p..1 II
Contemporary
linguistics
An Introduction
Edllt-" "I
W IlI IM,I () ' (.I-!tIlY
Mil H ,II 1)( 1IIK(JVIJ I '>KY
II-!AN( IS t.: , I AMllt
II
0'1 1 20m
Ao~1
Education . T..".... ' D<:wI
An ..pM! 01 Pearson donO ......."".."• •SIn F,aroseo Mod<Q . ....
~""'land • london • New 'fori! • A it ' . Seoul "Ta()eI 0Cape Town •
Hark)W "'-''W S glpott . Hong Kong
OntatlO • Sydney ' TOkYO ' .,
Am5lerdam • Munch · Pill' • Milan

I-dlnhurgh Gat.
Harle",. Ess"" Cl20 211'
I nlled Kingdom
anti {(){:idleJ C{'IfI"'UII~. thrall~h('1II1"c': world
71' U. on 1M noriJ nide" Ut'b ,II:
http: ' " .peatsoneJ.co.uk
Frrst edItion Copp Clark Pllman Ltd, 1987
S<cond odllian Copp ('Illr' Pitman Ltd., 1992
Thud edllion _ Copp Clar' Pitman l.td., 1996
All nghts resen ed: no part of this publication may be
reproduced. S[ored in a retrieval system. or lransmitled
in an) form or b~ nn}' means. elcclronic. mechanical,
photocop},ing. recording. or otherWise without either the
pnor wrilteo permission of the Publishers or a licence
permllling restncted cop}lng in the United Kingdom issued
h) the Copynght LIcenSIng Agenc} Ltd.,
90 TOllenham Court Road. London WIT 4LP
First published by Copp Clark PUman Ltd" 1987 under lIle title of Contemporary
Llngui tic Analysis: An Introduction
This adapted edition © Addison Wesley Longman limited 1997 except the chapter on
Computational Linguistics © St Martin's Press Inc.
ISBN 978-0-582-24691-1
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for tbis book is
a,arlable from the British Ltbrary
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Contemporary linguistics . an ,"troduction I edited by William
0' Grady, Michael Dobrovolsky, Francis Katamba.
p. cm. -- (Learning about language)
Adaptation of: Contemporary linguistrcs analysis,
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-582-24691-1 (pbk,)
I. Linguistics. I. O'Grady, William D. (William Delaney), 1952-- .
II Dobrovoisky, Michael, 1942--. III, Katamba, Francis, 1947-- .
IV Title: COOlemporary Itnguistics analysis. V Series.
PI21.C5854 1997
410--dc20 96-23860
Set h) JJ In 101J2pt r,mes
I'noted III Chi na
NI'CCII ,
t'i I~ U
In O<l os 07
CIP
To the memory o( our friend and colleague
[wa Iwanicka
1950-1986

Convincedat once that, in order to break loose from the beatenpathsof
opinions andsystems, it was necessary to proceed in my study of man d
hd d ' , ~
societybyscientificmet ° :s; an In a ngorous manner, I devotedone
, , " , year
tophilolog~andgrammar;,/ingUlstlcs, ,or the naturalhistory ofspeech, being
ofallthe sCiences, that which bestsUited the researches which I was about
to commence.
Ia. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, What is Property?(, 840)
Table of contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Series list
Acknowledgements
Preface
Preface to the original edition published by
Copp Clark Pitman Ltd, Canada
List of technical abbreviations
Language: a preview
WIl.1JAM O'GRADY, MIQ-lAR DOBROvOLSKY At-V FRANOS KATAMBA
1 A creative system
2 Grammar and linguistic competence
3 Changeability: gr-arnmars change over time
4 Biological specialization for language
Summing up
Note
Sources
Recommended reading
Questions
2 Phonetics: the sounds of language
."!CHAEl. DOilR('IOlSl-.' -NO fRAl',OS KATAMBA
1 Phonetic transcnption
2 The 'ound-producing system
3 Sowld classe
-4 Con 'onant articulation
5 }'Ianners of articulation
6 Vowe:;
7 Phonetic trJIlscription of RP vowel and consonants
8 uprasegmentab
9 Processe , d ' d)
10 Other yowels and consonants (a ance
Slimming lip
,'limn
v
vi
xiii
xiv
xv
xvii
xix
~
9
13
1~
15
IS
15
16
8
19
:0
23
:5
27
3S
41
.tl
4Q
57
6:
o.l

5
S,II/n'r'
R('(t"lllNOI./f d I '"dllll:
{!lIf'It,,,,","
I'honolo1:Y; tIlt' tllnC'linll .lI1d p.ltterning of Sounds
Ik. II I t pc 'U"'~ 1 Ms.., NlI, '" ""," rl ft,; " '",,!lL
I St'gll1(.'nh in .'oulr,I'1
1 Ph"m'II,',III, ,',>IIdll;,'n,'" "III,lllon: I'huncl11e~ and allophone,
J "hon,'II" ,lIld I'hom'I1II"".III,"'r;l'ltnn
., ,h,,,' Ih"l'!llll,'nr: '} 1I'lhk'
:; I'"atlll"
Ii Ikril ~tion, 'Ind rllk onknng
7 R"pll"l'nlalion, (ad, illll','d)
H .'itll'" Jnd lIlL'lri.', (ad,an,','d)
...'l1l11l11illg "I'
~' ·1 '(/');
..~tJUIl'(',,·
R,'('cl/III1/"II"c'" readillg
AI'I" 'II'" I: /lull.' .ti,,· ."'{I·;ng 1'11I>IIolog.l' I'mh/t'lIIs
(JII' .1/;011.1
Morphology; the analysis of word structure
lI 11,., n (,J,: 11 NI1 IPI ' I~ III l,U 'MtN
W(lld, and word ,lnl,'lure
2 nl'rnaliot)
J C'ompoundllll:!
., Olher Iypc, or onl 1<11'111<10011
:; Inlk,'''on
() Funhcr C<ll11plc, or infllX'lllll1
SlllI/lIIlIIg III'
,VOlt '.
,(lIlll't'.1
R"C'tlllllllt'nd,'d reading
,11'1'flldil: HoI' /0 idclllil.i' 11101/,11"111"1 illlll!(<llIIiliar langllll/wl
(Ju,'.II/OII.1
Synta~; the analysis of sentence structure
1111.1, 1 )'1 ,~AIl'
('all'goril's and structure
1 ('olllplcllll'1ll option,
J rrallslpllllalions
4 l III' 'T'al gl,IIlllllar ;IIlU par:lllll'lri<: l'anallOIl
S ~'lllll' ell'IIIOlh (adl allt'l',l)
(I I JIlin 1 pt" ,,1 Sl IIt,let;" ,lIlail si,
SII1I1I1/I1/ • "11' •
bll
7()
72
M2
R.l
95
1()2
109
113
121
122
,,~
123
123
125
132
132
I.,.,
151
156
160
164
170
171
171
In
172
I7J
IIl I
1M2
IlJh
10J
214
222
22'1
2J-I
G
7
8
l ... Rl £ Of C"NllNl~ ix
Notes
S()un~e,..
R eCOIt1l11f!1Ul ed rt'lulillg
Appenlli.'('" H ow In b14UtI t'ee .'ilrll('Wrt's
Q lIesliOlI,
Interfaces
MK,J IAEt. O<>BRc 1vtX.SIo...Y, WIl liAM ()'(,Io(AI1Y AI'II) f-RANl..1S KATAMBA
1 Morphology and phonulogy
2 Phonology and sYlllax
3 Morphology and syntax
SlIlIImillg "I)
No/e.1
Source"
Rec()/Ill1lelltletl reading
Que.1liollS
Semantics: the analysis of meaning
WUIAM O'CRAUV
1 The nature of meaning
2 The conceptual system
3 Syntax and sentence interpretation
4 Other factor. in sentence interpretation
Sllmmillg lip
NOles
SOl/rces
Recommellded readillg
Qf/eMiollS
Historical linguistics: the study of language change
ROBERT . "'l~~'
The nature of language change
2 ound change
.' Morphological l'hange
4 Intactic change
5 L~.ical and ....em~llli~ ~hange
6 The ,prcaJ of change.
7 Languag.e rc,'onstructlon
8 Languag.e change and naturalness
'11I11I11i,,~ tI!'
'('tt''
'i,lj/I'ct'.
R"CC"/1I11I'lld, d r"Utllll~
Q",>.,cl(lns
234
:ns
23(,
B('
2.lc)
245
2-15
254
260
264
264
265
265
265
26B
268
l 76
l8-1
295
305
305
306
307
307
313
313
318
33~
337
3-10
346
349
3b~
363
364
364
365
.,66

11
12
10
9 The classification of 1,1O~Ud~t'S
AJ..1 lrh: .,TIN:4E)..'(L
Some preJin1Jnal1t"
.2 T~ p<)lu~i.:JI ,j;l"lflc,lIi,'n
J Gent,tic da. ,Jlkalu>n
, IJIlUlIJII r: III'
,VoU.'!
SOl/1n'-
Rt'('ofllmt'lI<kd "'t/,/lIIg
QUt'SIIOIIJ
Brain and language
( ....R'I tllBfl,j-
The human hram
.2 Inestigating the br.un
3 Aphasia
4 AcqUired dyslexia and dysgraphia
5 linguistic theory and aphasia
6 Wbere is language?
Summillg up
Notes
Sources
Recolllmended reading
QuestioflS
Psycholinguistics: the study of language processing
(.ARY lll/lEN
J Methods of psycholinguistic researcb
2 Language processing and linguistics
3 Putting it all together: psycbolinguistic modelling
Summing up
Sources
Recommended reading
Questions
Language acquisition: the emergence of a grammar
SOl1l<. WHAN CHO AND WILLIAM o'(,RAIJ'
J The study of language acquisition
2 Phonological development
3 Morphological development
4 Syntactic development
5 Scmantic development
6 Dctcnninants oflanguagc acquI~ition
SIIII/ming III'
Notl'l
41&
416
421
424
429
431
434
435
435
435
436
436
4~8
438
448
457
460
460
461
462
464
464
466
471
476
481
488
496
497
Smln°t',
R rCOlJ1l1h'ndt'tl n'eltllng
QUl'IiOlH
13 Second language acquisition
K>tNAk,('.Vl.ID
I The tully of sccolllllallgu,'lc ilc4u""inll
2 Imcrlanguagc grammars
3 Faclors anCctll1g Sl.A
4 The L2 c1a"room
SlImmilig "II
NO/e"
Sources
Recommt'lu/eu reat/'IIM
ApPt'lidix; 1.2 pedagogy
Question"
14 language in social contexts
R(Jf'lAlO H. ')C MJlIlWlANl "Nt) JWN-.(,.lS KATAMlJA
1 Fundamental conccpb
2 Social differentiation of language
J Regional differcnllation of language
4 Mixed languages
5 Speech ,ilUalions
Summing up
Note
Sources
Recommended readin!:
Questions
15 Writing and language
MICHAflIX16RO'v,(llSK¥ INL) WlllAM ()'{.RAlJV
1 Type~ of writing
2 The histol) of writing
J The evolution of writing
" Some other writing syslcms
5 Enghsh onhogruphy
6 Writing and reading
SII/11nJIIlg III'
N()/t'.~
SOllTt'L'S
RecommellliL'd readlllg
Que,lIiolJ
I~HIi UI IONII 1 .1
SOl
~04
51
523
~2l
5'4
S3S
53~
53h
53"
S37
')40
54()
542
Sr.)
571
576
Sl5
516
SRI>
SllI
Stili
5'l1
51)1
592
5'15
M14
h13
6ll)
h20
621
ti:!:!
1>23
h23

Acknowl dg In nt
Pr fac
" 11t~'II~I":~ it... II dl';~lpl'1I' lUll, hut" hh',...tu, ,1lIII,t~'1l1t·lIli·tlltlll·U. '" Y,',11
III ,nllW 1·h"l~t.lht'" hit''! hlTn ,'Ih'. h'" 1111111' Lh I th.IIII,IIY ~Iulhlll~ 111111' hi
(littl' Ilt1udul tum' hI 1111' t.,uh"ll h'IT Udl'lll'" Itl 'llh' M'IM1,th'11t!lldIIlIlUII
1l plhHWlh· .... ,>"11 . ''''I1.lIlth .... P'Vl hl1h1~UI"lll·!i. 'Ill." lIlh nv.'" Itl ~,.lIld II nil,
l,ltlll'1" th;m ~tl'IU'II o;II1l'Yh nt thr ,'!Hlh' tlt'hl
1 lI'PI'd that Ilwh' IU,' qmh' it h'W h'I.IH,' ul IIlll1tthllllll hl1 III ttl
':1"",," ho. h~l' 111,' havl' hnoll 111 11.,h·d h) 11l' I.I',:~ nl., 11 It IUH'~ th.11
.';n J.!1l' lhrll "HId,'''' it ,dl '1 1111,I I"'II..d UVl'llh'W ul Ih,· ubll'. I ·tl,'(lUll
'nd.,y ... hnJ.!II"'tll. Ih,11 amllH,lt tll'l' . llh'n' h,'lI".' h"Tn htMlS ,,~c 'hk.:kctt
('ilU'" III ;1"./,·", 11II.l.lIIBI/f (il..·.I"m·.., " 111110,/11, tltHl '0 1)"1 ",ItHI
I,,,,gllntlt,' and Ruht11" (if·tIt'I,,11 "'gll""". " J,lIl1lfJIll"lrtn '"n,' 1u.. h
plwuk il rmnp,l'Iu.·I1"1IVl· ~llntllultlt)l. lit tht.' h1vul~"'-'''' ,,' 11"."11 I1tW tWIt:' I
" II..·..·" hn II l'f'll11jliUllhk IIltl·~'IiHl·tI UI'vl'Y ul tnday .... "n.,lIl"tI.' hu.
lIldullhll'dly. II I' ' Iill IIltpllltant hu h"t!,lIllllIlW 'luklll' In gl' .1 11.IIIr.umr
virw nl' thl.· Vii" lnnd,l,.'upl.' lit IHIIHill1 latlp.lIOi 'I: hdorc dl,'~IIl).' tin.·1l IIthl Ihl
Huuk , am.l .' 1;11111.." ul till.' ;lUO!" linvllt'II...·' 'pl'clall""" SO ~I '11111: a~·.11 I
h"),"'11 WIIII'~ 'Ill 111'"1"""'111) IlI1g""'"'' Ie Ihllllk wludl wa, "'lcm,,,,1 III
pltlVitk' ,udl'Ilt' with it .,u1ull!HHlllthng III nlnenl Itn~lI'ltl.·"
Soon ~lIh.·1 ttw PIUll."1 Inl Ulldl'lvay, wlutc nn a Vl'll 10 11IlIl~.I. I ('Ul
h,"'ln).' 111 ,I hllllbhlll ,""11''''1.,',, "I''' ,111" III "",lh,lI11 (l'l",lI~, M''h"d
I)Ilh"" ""I., "lid M.lIk ,11","11' h.,llk (·'I/II.III/",n,n' I "'XIII"" , 11
1",,,,'//1"',,,,, dm:h had l'Cl'n ,lIlapll'd hom ('''IIIr'IIII''"l1rl' I/11'111"1<
""/.1'1' 11 /11/1".111"",,, 1'1Ihil,hed h) Cnp!, (,Ia,k "ilm.II1 lid, (,II1.ld,1 II
; th.... Ill,h' Inltllll.l1l· btH.. 'IU)! 1 ha.' C~(,I IOIl~, tll-n' ,,~,,;I bon~ th,ll It :
1'lIl'IIWI) l'1I Whal IIIV1'IllI"y"III,' I","k w," aIlCIllI"II1' hi .Ill.
Ii 1/,','"III ,'on,,,k',lhl' ,k;lll Ill' "Ire ,1I,'a' "I' IhcII,clll'al hng'"'I"" ii' well
"' 11',11') hrallch,', "I "l'l'h,'d 11ll~III'U"', h"l a, IInpllnillll, II "hlllh ,I,'le",hl,'
,Ill" I"sloll Wllh,11 h"I11~ 1'''1''""/ill', II "1:1111'111 wllllnlll IWII'!; 1111<1111)
p"knll<'al. I hnllj:hl 111),1'11 a "III' ,IIIII '" I ,,'ad Ih"'LI~1I II, I le,lllICd wh IllI
hll"k h;ld 1'Cl','llll' II ..I,md'L1d mlllldm'I"'" 1"li"!!I"'I"" "' Nnnh .III'IIC;I
I II",rd,,, , :l11",,'d IIh Add,,,,,, We,k, I.Il"gma" "' Ihe lit.: Ihal 1,'IIl'1
Ih,m In III "',,IK,lIe hill ('''''','III/,,"an' I j",~"",", l".,h" .,' 11 11I1I",{"..I1""
d,'," 'I' "dl. II 111111 II<' 111111" "'n,,hl,' "" Ill" III Il'am III' wllh Wilh,II"
(l'til"'" il1II1Ihl'had I)IIhl""I,k Iwl1l1 WCll' Ill" ,'h"1I1111 "illl Will.. "",,
"'",,,d 11111" Vall"dlolll ,',hi"", ,.1 Ihc "',,'kI ami 1'",,1111 ,I n,II1 ',nh
1I'm',II 1',hIU'" lit <"111'''111/'''"'1'1 /111~""'1< ""/1'1' I h,ll I~ "h,lt hap
,1'11"'1. Ill' 1"1111.,1 'lIl/,,"II,,I,",III1"'" thc 1'",,111, "'ll h",,' h rill' Illl
n", 1,',1 " in IlI,II" /0,""" Ih' "'"l'." Ihal ,'llh,' thlld t ",",1111,111 'dlllllll,
11",,''1, II dill,'" til"" II lund I""" Ihl' I'S Cdllll'" pi pal "" ;IIK
,1 IIIIIt) III " 1IIIIllIwi III ""I"'Ii,1I11 w.,s SII<''llIl..,1I C.'",lIh,1l1 111,111,,,,,1 h,l

I.l'Cl'h and Ihe advice 'lilt! ,UPPllrlof M"r~ Aronoff.
Thanh "Iso go 10 <I nUlubl') lit Ill'Ople al Addison Wesley LOllgl1lilU II) IItl'
UK and ('amid" ~hlJ Were "'wilYs cageI' 10 hdp and whose aSSlam:c helpl'I.l
Illllt:l~l' Ihl' pn:panll)ol1 of lhl' book bOl" Sllloolh and plc<lsilnl.
FI;JIlCI.S Kal",nh..
Prefac to th
original edition
n,Il~' tu 111,,' uPplat'Hlhlll 01 II.,OIU1I"I .Inill~ I! tu I.III11tl.H lIh)t (;t 111 III r
Ian!'ut,tu.' prn'IIl" 'tllll~'I1I" willi IUl "h:al inlludtl~ 11111110 Ill(· ~tllIll)l thmlill
WI.' ':~111 "l'll'lllllll" SUI. h Ihlll~IIV p'O "l'tllt hom .1I1 IPIHt.:''-I.IIHIIl 01 pit/hi Itl
""III" ""m hllll"" III dillOi. III hY"IIIIl' '" ,,' " , I I
' < I I ' • h'IKllh C 111
I II . I II" '1'1 1'1 H llnllli lor thn
(lIUhh,'I1' ttl Ihl' l'u,rlul k~llI).! ilnd l lth.'n IOn t) U ( J I
( I II ' " ·,1 I,k" 'lie oll'le( h'
'rlelln' " 11111,' Ih'"1 .1 IlIIl1ill iI,l,vlly III" II 11 C, . 111><1 I
11I11I1I1I"llIrv ,Imil-Ill' III 11I1~1I"1"" " Ihe ,1I'"ovCI y "I Ih., 1I11J11 ' ~IV<: Y')
, I I, "" N' 1111 I"M,I; ,II Inpl III
'lhnll""""I' kllllw,,"dg,' Ihal IIl1d,', II' ,lIIgU,'g , I , I I '
el11l'l1,""e 11ll' "XI"III 01 III" kllllwkd!!,' ," we "
'11 . 'i lu IUtrcKll1l.:~ t W I( 11 1 Il:
1I1"Ihlldlllll
n
y 1I,,'d illlll'~II1S11l '"1.1IY'I' ,. , I Iy 1',1 .,
" 'I k 1c"~lIeu pnm,' I ,
AlihollV
h
Ih" " IIIl' 111,1 1111).111'1'" I<Xlllll1 < I )Iy 1'III"d"
('III1,,1I1i11i rClld,'r,
hl
l1, w,' haw II ,'I 10 10 I ,,", I' A Itl<' IllIe '"gg,',ls, wc
I I I nu 'h more 1 ,:til "1111
l'lIvcl al1col lllllI"lll'ph 'IIIlIll~lIap'~"IIIII" ~o( ,IllI''''. .. I ' 11'.I"",etl allhl
I "' lll 'lIW y~l! a.., I ,' ....
have allell1111~d 1111 IlIlrodll." "lIl1lll III!!III, 1 I '1Irl"J''lllllhcr
1 ' 1 'Whll~wClollollv.lllIe ,
,IU"c ill Ihc d.:vcn(llllcill nlollft ISllJllllC I t , 'III"" 1
1
'lI'tl1t
P
Ill as
' ,.. " , h'IVC I'lken I c gem" " ,. ~
Iruilflll approache, 10 .itllgUlSltl:", we., .' "',a,chllvelyUlhel~nl
I " , I V'1IIItou"IIC' proVluC ,
h""1: 10rtwlllca"1Il', 'II'I.gcIICI.1 ,< ~ I n'l l'hlll1el,,' phl1l1
l1
logy,
I I ' . I· 1'lI1SlIc PlCIlUIllC , •
alld IIlIeglaled "l1plOac 1111 "',," II!.! . . I wllhln Ih" 1t,IInewllik ;"
' I 'l1'lIIl1e' arc VICWCt
1II111 phulogy. 'ynlax, ,Int 'Ie', . 1'1'" S"colldly Ihe 'ell<I"II'e
h I II II 'tor'lIed and tnlerr~ a cu. ' _ ,
pel haps 111 no ul CI a.. II y II ec ' ' I .. tlon II) a hrnad range olollwr
' 11pmach ha.. heen widely tnlluel1ltal 111 "' ,IPp lea
,I .. , I') IIwenly years I
IllI
g
lilsllc
p
ltenllll1cl1allvClI:CJ "'", ha, heen limlled hy Ihe lIIevllan c
Thc eXlenl 01 our 'COnlel11pur,lIl1lc" "., 'II1U Ihe tkmands III
I ' , I I< ()reSenl ha'ie cOllcep" ,
cOIllIJrnml'e hClwecn IlenCl( I . I I "'Illy <:'IC', carly vcr,,'"''
' , , 'nl appmac lC'. n I. ,
sophllIcalcd and COIl1P
Clln
V. I<CC , . ' ny 111,lruclnrs who wele nlll
I 'I 'I 10 conicllIJ1ur,ny . . I
01 our chaplers were 1,11 gel I ,. . lIS Ic:d III SlInst'"l1lUl Ie""'",, an,
spccialisls in Ihe ,uhl lelds ,n lIuesllOn, 11 , . 1'" (e'(lel'ially 111 Ihe alea
' , ' I ' I lnl'lch In eel Win IS' ,
a sOlllcwhul I1Imc Iradlllllll,1 ,'111 "l1ded Where pl1"lhlc. howevcl, lalcr
01 ,yntax) Ihall W'I OIlglll,llIy IIIle ." 1)rc conlelllporary malenal III
' I ,. 'Ire used III ple,enl 11 I I' <III
srClllln, of the c laplclS , . 'Ie whal " promiseu hy I Ie III c
Ih" w'ly wc have allemplcd III P"IVll ,I'll "'ail' lingullil' concepls,
. " , 'u'· a ,olttl gruullulng I " h
inlroductory lexl Ihal PIllVI es I 'U un 10 currenl wlllk 111 t c
nul nne thai <llso prqlares Ihe ,'IUUC;~ I"i,g inlrcllluu'u III mult, kwlkd
Ul'"pllllC Fur Ihi' re;lS~lII, Ihe SI~::I~;~cr tieled ;lIIal) ,es), ,llIlIphl1I11"
phonology (In prepanl~un 101 "II alion for IcxII:al phonology), IlIlet
lllorphuphonclI(: (IISIII1"lIlII' (III prc
p
,. r (·11 prCnralllll 101 UllIole l',lcllucd
• I II' Ihe "lal11ll.1 I ,
m:IIOI1 among componcn s e

nl<xlular uppn';ll'hl, I,'rd 1,>rIlI;lllOn ruks in morphol"gy, anu t'
pamm~tri.: "MIath'n In 'nt:l. 'ampl~, Of
To Ihe " len! po,slhl~, h,I': Juempled I" Inlegrare the bas..
nism, outhn~d to tht!' tirsl £i,e.' ,hapleC' or the book inhl Our dis:' rnccha,
phenomena 10 !al,'r ,'hJpk'C' 111u" our dN:ussion llf semantic, hUs. IOn of
r '. r d d I . ' .. ' "ton 'aJ
rngubth..·.... ll'or:tO <.."1.'")0 angu.Jgc iJLqUl~rnon. ~nu neurolinguistics ~
to some de~"",,e on th<, n"uon., pre,cl1Ied tn our tntroJUClton to gcn <.Ira""
gr~ar. erallve
So te.'([book: ,'an he all things to all users. We hope that this boo"
pro'ide sruden!s nOl (lnl~ 'Ith apringboard to the realm of s" ~in
lingui.tk unaJ}sis. hUI '" ilh a grenter a~preciation for the wonder o~~~lJfic
language. the ..ant!'l) und complexny 01 Its structure. and the Subtlety o~un
use. It.-,
. William o'Grad"
MIchael D()brol'(lI.s~;
List of technical
abbreviations
• tin ntit!s) one or mure
• (in front 01 words or
!!o.cntenceq tmacl..'cptahle
# word boundary
I Iirst person
I primary slress
2 second person
2 seCOndUf) ~trc:-,
: third per,on
adjective
Ahl ablative ca~e
b, lIbsolulive case
Ac accusative case
Adv adverb
AdvP adverb phrase
Af affix
ag agent
AP adjective phrase
ATR advanced tongue root
Aux auxiliary verb
B bound root
C coda
C complementizer
C con onant
CA contrastive analysis
caus cause
CG consuicted glollis
CLT communicative language
teaching
Co any number of consonants
Con conjunction
CP complementizer ph.rase
CT computerized axial
tomograph.y
CYC Cape York Creole
OA derivational affix
Oat dative ca e
Oeg degree word
Det dl:lr.!nnincr
DR delayed release
PEG Electmencephal,>gmtn
EA cITllr :may!oti~
Erg I!rgallvc ca!c
ERP event-related ",>tential
ESL Engli,h a., a second
language
FN fir,1 name
Fut future ten~c
Gen gemtlve ca'c
go goal
H high tone
lA inflectional aftlx
lL imerlanguage
indic indicative
inf intinitive
lnfl Inflection
IPA International Phonetic
Alphabet
KT kinterm
L low tone
Ll first language
L2 second language
LN last name
Loc locative case
Loc location
M man
M mid tone
MRD machine-readable dictionary
J.l mora
noun
nucleus
Nom nominative case
num number
rp noun phrase
0 (direct) object
0 onset

I II If I II ION.. I
I "
(11·1 "hlhl1
(II (11,IIII'/t II
I' I' "1'hI1l1U
p ", 1'.:1' ) ..
I'rlll"'l'all "'tll""" III
I ' l~l'".II''' t ""'J"lh'lIl'
",,11 '"
1'1 T }hHn,"l 1111""'11
lilith' '1111""
I'll 1'1"hl 1ud,' l'III'I~"111
1'1 I'h","
PI' PI ,p,hllh1l1,11 plu.I'~·
I'R pfh1lh'fi..' 1'p"',,'III.11111I
1'1, 1" ',,'IH It'I1 ,'~'
I',t 1'.....1ft.' ''','
R ftn 111'
R 111111",,'..1
Rl ' f ' I,HIH." ,:I.IlI','
RH IH:hr l"l1 .hh .mt.I'I'
I "Ip '''''1'",'111
RI' R '", ',f l'IIlltllh,',.lfulll
S
0;
"
SIS
S(i
' '
SI
SI"'"
III
r
1'1
Ihl'
I 'll
1'1{
III{

I'

.I
"'~'nt'lh ~.
,uh,~ "
" II""",
" 'It • lI1UlUh: '1.1111,
'PI h,1 -I,lit"
'111'111.11
,,,',:o,,d 1.1" 11I.1 ',,' •InI1l1
'1"-,'111," Ihull
11"'1)1<'
III'" "I...."
1,1'" I I,hl 1)'''''1'
"'PH,'
l ll""''',11 ;, allll1,11
1111.1'1" Ill' , '1'11""1)1,1'"1)
tlllr"tlnd"'d
I,',h
n.t,."
I "Ih 1'111,1'"
lI11.tIt
1I1"d
1
" I Rt I tVI
.. , .. II M
language: a preview
lVi/l,.rOl ()'( ".rely tvl;( h,lt'11 )ob/ovo/s/.. y ,111(/
I,.rll( h 1.11, 11111>,1
Ilk.' ~11f (It '.11~4{1.I~:" J Ih,' ','lIt:"I"",",I/! h,1I1 Ih.1I m.Ir~"'" "N ,:/·o..,/( .III~ "It",/-: U"i 1'~Ir'
"IJlII,hc"I','utMI'
t ,11 ''''l}!.' " lll,lIly thllll!~ , ,ysll'1l or cumn.lIH:~'l1n. " mcdHun fur
thlu~hl, ..I Thu.;k hH ill'wry c pn..·,smll. a "'Cla in....ilU1W1•• m~utci' tm
I'"lt"l'al ""nl"''''''} a ",laly,' ror na""" hu,Il"ng, 11 human """'gs
no'lIIally 'I"'a" "I "',," ""~ lan~u"!1.e "",I ,I " h,ml III 'm,,~inl! nmd,
SI!nllt,-'"11 ""'0;11. 'lIIl'1k~ll",I, II, u"",'~ a,I,vi,y lal,II1'I'I,I<:e III ", ah,cn,~
1'",11 "I ''', III,n, I"" 1 ,,,,,,,, in Illllkr"'"llllng "'melh,,,, "hnu"h, "alur~ ami
11M' "r lanotll:lg~ Thi, h,Il'1.. 1,,"vOlks a I""" il1lrndll"illl' , hl1glll'I'cs, ,he
1",.-iI'I"" ,hu, '1IItI", II""" IIIall,",
Whal i, hlnn,1I1 1,II1guag"" Wha, dll:' II mea" ", I..l1lm ,I Ia"gual!d It, ;111'" cr
,h,'''' qu,"lil"", II " liN ne,','""rl "' umlcr"allu ,h, r""'lIfec, thaI a
Ian!!",lg,' m,II..,', ,1 ;III,lhk I, ", nllth e 'peaken., ,h,l,e "hI' ha" ,I ·"lIircu II
,Is 'lul"r '11 11 a n,uur,ll 'Clllll!;,
rh,' ""'l'" ,Illl ",,,'rsll~ or human Ihoughl ,mll "llI:rtcllce pia", gn:al
",'I1,Ill,l> "" I,mguag". Ik,',IUsC cl'llIn1unicatll>n is nllt Ic'trid,'ll 10 a It "U ,Cl
,>1' "'P"", I;mguag" l1Iu,t ll,' "'Illl',hlllg Illl're Ih,II1,I'" Ill,' ; pa.:l..a 'C "I rcaJ}-
mlldc """,Ig"', It lIust ,'na1k '" tl' ,r"Juce ami llll,krsl~uI,1 11,' "I",b.
I'hr,I"~s, ,III" "'lI,'n,'," tIS the n,','d ;lrisCS. In sl"'rI, hUllla" langual!c mu'l he
l'n'IIth e ,Ill,,,, 111 ~ nl elt) ,111,1 il1l1< a,i,'" III n:'l">I1'': t" IIC Ih"u ,hts,
l"1 'rklll"", ,I"" ,itu,IIl,""
l'lId,'d) III ' the c,,'all' ,1,1"'( "I language is ;111 IItm',II,' 11"lIlal ",t III
Ih~1I ,kfllll" th' h"uml,lrk, lthlll hll'h inlllll ,Itt"" l'an t,I...,' 1'1."',,, rh,
"I '{'II"11 ,,1' Ih" ,) ,I, III ('an be' IIlU,"utl',1 h, I r 'Jhld) 'HlIpk ph nl'llll'lIllll
in hlghsh I'" bhlc 1,1): thc 1'1, 'C" th,lt cr,'~tlc' ,clh, {r '11 'hi), 111,1
n,lItllIl' ,ll'li,>n,) It"", ""lIn' I!lughl}, ,>IU' nallllll ' tlung ),

H lPOII ~RY LINGUISTICS
~~_~_l/n~u._,~
________________________
_~_ro_,_u_e______________~
leave the b""1 on the be"..h beach the boal ~
keep the aeroplane on Ihe ~n>un" ground the aeroplane
cru:.;h the a..pirin into pmn/t'r powder the a.spirin
slab the ",an ith a M'ij" knife the man
catch the fish ith a .pt't1r spear the fish
make the child an "Tf,holl orphan the child
A, the following sentences show, there is a great deal of freedom t ~
in the fomlation ofsuch verbs. a InnOVate
J)
o. I I1Tisled the ball Ol'er the nel.
h. He would try 10 slifJ-upper-lip it through.
c. She Houdini 'd her way OUI of the locked close!.
There are also limits on this freedom. however. For instance an.
I . d'f d' . ., ew verb'
rare.y,come I a war WJlh the mtended meaning already exists. Alth IS
saY10i1lhe robber to mean 'put the robber in jail', we do nOl say ~ugh We
robber to mean 'put the robber in prison'. This is becau e the w 11_ PilSOn Ihe
verb imprison already has the meaning that the new form wOuld
C
h e tabltshed
Th I . I . ave.
ere are a so specl3 conslraJnLS on the meaning and use of ..
subclasses of these verbs. One such constraint involves verb th Particular
from ( . I . at are created
lme expressIOns SUC 1 as Slimmer, holiday, and so on.
2)
a. Julia summered in Paris.
b. Harry winlered in Mexico.
c. Bob holidaved in France.
d They honeymooned In Hawaii.
Although the entences in 2) are all natural- oundin .
can beuse~ in this way. (Throughout this book an g, n~t~1 time exp~essions
that a IJngUistic form or utterance is unacceplab'le.) astensk IS used to Indicate
3)
li. *Jerome midnigilled in the streels
I * .
1. Andrea tI()()lled allhe reslaurant.
c *Philip one a'clocked at the .
allport.
Thc~e e.amples show thal when a verh is ' , .
II1U't be given a very specific intci re' .. created from a tllne expression, II
s~'l11ewhcre for the period of tim/X,ta~~~.- roughly paraphrasable as 'to be
Pans lor the summer', 10 ho/ill' • s, 10 .lilll/mer lI/ Paris is 'lo he in
holidays', and so Oil. Since nllOIl(~;:1~1I ~;lII1Ce IS 'to bc In France for the
than ctendetl period" of lime th'" .. /ll/elllghl e.press POlOts In tlillC rather
tv"'- I ' "j ~ann()( be used t
. ,., . . 0 create new vcrhs of this
Some other
examples
I AN(,l M,f A PR( vir w ,
Sytcmatic. COn,lnl1nh arlo! c!i!..,cnual tn the vlabihry uf the cr aU"'!: prne .
1f 1,;ell~eslabhshcd word" Wl.'fl.' cun,tanlly hc:ing fl!placcd hy nl.'W Cfl!atHln •
Ihe vocabulary of English woule.! be '" u,,,uhle that commum.:allnn could he
jeopardized. A Similar uungcr wuuld un...c If there were nn con"lralOt un th
meani.ng of new words. If Tlte~' WI",,.r ;11 lIuwuii could mt.:an 'lhcy make It
sn~w In Hawaii' or 'They wish it wl!rc winter in Hawaii' or any other ,trhitrary
thmg. the production and interprelation of language woulll be ch.u".: and
ungystematic. undcnnining the ro1e of languag! communil.:.ulinn.
Creative syslcms arc found in all asp<'clS of language. including the way 111
which sounds arc cOl11hined to fon" words. The forms 111 4), for im,lan~c_ arc
recognizable as possible English words (which mighl he used as names fllr
ne products or processes).
-I)
«. prasp
b. nib
c. traf
Such forms contrast with the patterns in 5). which simply do not have the
shape of English words.
5)
Q. *psapr
b, *bfli
c. *ftra
The contrast between the forms in -I) and 5) illustrates that the set of posstble
sound patterns reflects con. iderations that pennit certain no,el ,ount!
combinations. but prohibit others.
Still other considerations detennine how new word. can be created from
already exi ling fornls with the help of special endings. Imagine. for example.
that the word soleme entered the English language (used perhaps for a new ly
di covered atomic particle). As a speaker of Engli"h. you then automatically
know that something with the properties of a soleme could be callet! 'U/t'IIIIC.
You also k.now that to mak.e omething solemic is to solemici~e it. and you
would call this process solelllici~arioli. Further. you know Ihat the C I'
prouounced as s in solemici:e but as k in solemie. Without hesitation, you alsu
recognile that stlll'mici:e is pronounced with the strc<,s on the sec,'nd syllahlc.
You would sa~ ,oLEmiCl:e. not SOlemici~e or ~olemiCIZE )
0 here tS the ability to deal ith novel utterances more llhvillUS than til
the production and comprehension of sentence. , part from a fey. Ii:l.cd
expression. and greetings, much of hat you a) . hear. ant! n:ad in the cour e
of a da con..i"ts of sentences that arc ne to ou, In C,lIlcr allons. kctures_
newc';',b, and te'tbook, you are regularly exPosed to l1td c"l1lhinatil'ns of
wort. the cpn:ssion "f unfamibar ideas. and the pre entation of n'w

2
GRAMMAR AND
LINGUISTIC
COMPETENCE
inllmn:ltltlrl. (II''Iller. ror ""wnw. the paragmph that you "rl'
reading. '.'·hiIL- ea,'h or the,,,.,entences i> no Ilouot perfectly comp ~hU"""nll'
. h rc cn "L. J
to you. It " c"rc'md) lInhkdy Ihal YOll ave ever ,cen <lny 0 '"',
oclilfl'. f thell!
This ahJ/il} III pnx!uc·c "nil underlilnnd unfamiliar ut!crances doe
en,ure Ihat }uu c'an unllcr,rand or use any Imagmable combination r s n(~
For nallll'k. '"ou douhlb," lind it difficult (if not impOSSible) toO WOrds,
- . 'nterp
the U((cr..me.: in 6). El'nthollgh all the words used here <Ire familiar Ones rei
ares'mp/) IlIl1 arr:mgcll ,n the right way to be a semence of English. .thel
6)
*Frighlenell Ilog Ihe cat thaI the chased mOllse a.
More",·"r. even though YOll can probably understand a sentence such .
by analogy perhaps with 71». thcre is something aboul il that makes it~S/a),
less than acceptable. und
,)
a. *He broughl 11 chair In order to sit on.
b, He broughl a chair 10 sir on,
As with other a.'peCts of language. the ability to form and interpret s
. b' . I· . , entenees
IS sU ~ect to syslemauc ,mltatlOns. .
As we have seen, spcakers of a language are able to produce and d -
an unlimited number of utterances including many that un erstand
, 'I· Th' . . ' ' . are novel and
UJllaml Jar. IS ablhly. which is often called linguistic com
conSlllutes the celllral subject mattcr of linguistics and of this b k petence.
In IOveSllgating linguisllc competence. linguists focus 00 th
syslem that allows human beings to tiorm and . t on e mental
. . In erpret the wo d
sentences of theIr language This s}'stem' /1 d r s and
. ' , I S ca e a grammar F
purposes ofthJS book. we will dinde the gra . h ' or the
m Table 1.2. mmar Into t e components shown
Table 1.2 The compon~lIl, of 3 grammar
Component
Phonel'cs
Phonology
Alorpho/ogy
SYlltU
S,'rnanrirs
I.tnguis[s usc the
R~,p'J/J.ihilir'
Ih~ 3rticuhllion and perceplion of speech Sounds
the pa!lemlng of speech sounds
word formation
'enrence formation
th~ IllIerprctulJon of words and SCntc",:cs
tcrm grall/lIJar in a ralher special
and technical way.
2.1
Generality: all
languages have
a grammar
lIlNC.UI(,1 II PKIV'EW 5
Because lhl'" uuge may he unfunHhar to the: avcmge unIJer",IlY L
UU nt, we
will devote SHme lime to cnnsu.lcnng evcral fundamental propenle~ ul the
s)'''-tem lhat lingui'ls call a gr~lmmar
One of the most fundamentlll cmm, of modern linguistic analy", " that all
languages have a grammar. This can he veritied by considcnng a few SImple
facts, Since all langunges lire spoken. they must have phllnetic and
phonological systems; since they all have words and sentences. they also must
have" morphology und 1I syntllx; and since these words ami ,entences have
systematic meanings, there ohviously must be semantic principles as well. As
these arc the very things thai make up a grammar. il follows thaI all human
languages have this type of system.
It is not unusual to hear the remark that some language - Acadian French.
Cree, or Swahili - 'has no grammar'. (This is especially common in the ca.,,,
of languages that are not written or have not yel been analysed by Western
scholars.) Unfamiliar languages sometimes appear to an untrained observer to
have no grammar simply because their grammatical system, are different
from those of better-known languages. tn Walbiri (an aboriginal language of
Australia), for example, the relative ordering of words is so free that the
English sentence The rwo dogs rlOW see several kangaroos could be translated
by the equivalent of any of the following sentences.
8)
a. Dogs two now see kangaroos several.
b, See now dog two kangaroos several.
c. See now kangaroo several dogs two.
d. Kangaroos several now dogs two see.
e. Kangaroos several now ee dogs two.
Whereas Walbiri may not restrict the order of words III the way Englbh does.
its grammar impo e· other types of requirements. For example. in the
sentence t}pes we are con ·idering, Walbiri speakers must place the ending lu
on the word for 'dogs' to indicate that it names the animals that do the ·eeing
rather than the animals that are seen. In English, by contrast. this infonnation
is conveyed by pladng two dogs in from of the verb and sel'eml kangaroos
after it.
Rather than showing that Walbiri has no grammar, such differences simply
d~monstrate that it ba. a grammar unlike that of English in certain respects.
This importanl point is applicahle to all differences among languages:
although no two languages have exactly the same grammar. there are no
languages without a grammar.
.-. similar point can be made about different varieties of the ,amI! language.
As you are probably already aware. English i' the language of many ditt~re~t
communities around the world. The particular varielY of Engl"h found wlthm

U IS"'L~
---.---:----
-
Equali!}: all
grammars are equal
- lri -1 ora particular language. questions
"ht:neer then- h 1111)rc: th.tn lme 4 to:: more correct than another. Fro
h . . 1m 'h.,,, bell<r or III
.uise.:1:-.h)h~t er4.lut.:h"ll t: ._'~,' makesnomoresenselO "aYth"t
. I,JJ -m flngu"UC>. It Q
Ih" pomt 01 "e" .1 m < . h r than it dO<!s to say that th,
2.3
UniH·rsality:
pammars are alike
~ ic ways
. E I'h' I><!tt~r than anal e e
one ariel) "I ng I' I' ) Ulan the arammarofThai.
grammJf of English is h"lIe~ (?r.wotr'CpartiCular I~auage have grull1mars Ihal
"II anu "ltl , metres" a e
,'U anguage,· , ' , . sition that the human mind can
l>I th 'r~akers tll epres> nny prnpo . . .
ena e el' . .'.s a/I-im nanr ailerion, then. all vaneues of language
produce In lerroS .,1 thl m~I' of communication and though!. The goal
are absolul"" equal as ,",Iru k I
- • ." _ anal) sis is not 10 ran anguagcs on some
or 'onrernpor.ll) flneUI,lIe ..' d d h
c . - . '1' Rather lin!!"uists seek 10 un e"lan I e nature
imaeinan scale ot su~non y. . - I d d
- .' . I .' m' Ihal allow people 10 spea~ an un erstand a
of the gr.unmauc.:1 !'t} ,{e.'i l
language. . ' ol,times made bv noting Ihat linguistics is descrip_
Th~=~nrtsW < . " . . . . . ..
. crl'ptl"'e This means thaI flngu"ts seek 10 de:'Lllb" human
the DOl pres . ' . . .
lin!!"~jstic abilil} and knowledge. not 10 prescribe one s)stemf_tOdPreferl~nce II)
an;ther. A parallel poiD! of view is adopled to mher SUCICOlII I.C hlSCIP mes as
well. The firsl concem ofall scienrisls is 10 descnbe an exp am t c tach they
observe, not 10 change them.
E"en though il rejects prescriplivism. modem linguistic analysis does nOI
deny the importance of clear expression in writing and peech. Such skilb arc
qujl~ righuy an objecl of concem among educalors. However. the uifficultics
that arise in these areas typically result from the incon. istent or careless use of
one' linguistic knowledge,not from any irtherent flaw in the grammar itself.
Linguists also acknowledge that certain patterns (I seen thar. Ther was
{here. He didni do norhing. He ailli here) may be restricted to particular
socia-economic groups within the English-speaking community. As di 'cussed
in more derail in Chapter I~. the use of these patterns may therefore have
negative social consequences: it may be harder to win a scholarshIp. to get a
Job. to be accepted in certain circles. and so forth. From a purely linguistic
polOtof view. however. Ihere is absolutely nothing wrong with grammars that
perrrul such SlrUctures. Like grammars for other variants of English (and other
languages). Uley permit their users to express and understand the same
ulllrmlled range of Ihoughts and ideas.
~here are mallY difTerences among languages. as even a superficial cxaminu-
dllo~ of Ihetr sound patterns. locabularies. and word order reveab. But this
'lC' not mean that ther' ar> a I" h
~. .. _. "e n Imlls on t e type of grammars that human
mg. lan acquIre and use QUil> t th
. c 0 c contrary, current rescan:h suggeMs
2.4
Tacitness
IANI,I'M,' A PRrVllW 7
that there arc tmpurtanl gmmm••lIc:ul prlOt.:lph:s and h:m.knn"s h.,[cd hy 111
human language,
One ,uch print.:lptc IIlVl,h'l's thl.' manner in hlCh l~ntl·nL.:C!io .•rc neg,lted
uh unlimitell 'uritHlun. (lne uuld e""'t the equivuh:nl 0 Eng" h not to
(k,.:cur in different (l(hllion..., wtlhm the' !"cntcn(c In dlf1crcnl t.mgu~"'l: . 1hu ,
we might preuil:t thut en..:h uf the f",Uny. 109, pt.)ssibihltc, ,hnulll ~"M;c.:l1r "Hth
roughly equal frequency.
9)
II. NOI Pal is here.
/>. Pm nOl is here.
c. Pat is !tnt hcre.
eI. Pal is here nol.
A, il happen" the 1i"1 and f"unh [lllttcms are very rare. In 'I11.ually all
lunguage,. negalive ctemenb such us lint either immedialely precellc or
immedialcly foltow the verh.
The rdative ordering or other elemenb is also subject 10 conslrainb. To 'cc
thiS, we need only consider the six. logically possible orde", for a simple lhree-
word statement such as Ausrralialls like cricker.
10)
a. Australians like cricket.
h. Australians cricket like.
c. Like Australians cricket.
d. Like cricket Australian.
e. Cricket like Australians.
f Cricket Australians like.
Interestingly. the overwhelming majority of the world's languages adopt OTIC
of the first three orders for basic tatements. Only a handful of language use
any of the last three orders as basic. This once again reflects the exislence of
can trainLS and preferences thatltmit variation among languages.
These are not isolated examples. As later chapters will sho. some
granunatical categones and principles are universal. And where there i,
variation (as in the ca 'e of word order). there is typically a very /tmlled set
of options. COOlrary to lirs! appearances. then. the set of grammar learned
and used by human beings is limited in significant ways.
Because the use of language to communicate pre"upposes a .grammar. it
follows that all speakers of a language must have knowl.edge of IlS gram~ar.
However. this knowledge differs from knowledge of anthmellc, road. atet).
and other subjects that are taugbt at home or in school. Unltke these other
types of knowledge. grammatical knowledge is acq~ired Ithout the help 01
instruction when one is still a child and it remams largely ,ub<;on...clou.

1I Gt IS TICS
·'-,u<>h·'ut li k ,;llJ ...amnk "fthi' ':,,,blder vour pwnunciation Ortnn p
u u. ~ ... .. ~ - . t- - • -. ... _b,t
ten...e ending ntfl~n .l' ~d 10 me.' tullll' 109. , lml....
III
o. humed
I>. slipped
c. huued
. ' u,,, that wh,'reas} ou sa) iJ In hUflled. you say I in slipped and d in bl/~ed.
. (oreover. If n'u heard tht: ne" verb jlib. you would form the past tense
jlihbt'd and p.:onounce the ending as d. Although it is unlikely that you na~
ever been a are of this phenomenon before now, you make th~se distinctions
automatically if you are a native speaker of Engitsh. ThIS IS because you
acquired the grammatical suhsystem regulaung tblS aspec~ of speech wnen
you were a child and it now exi,ls subconsciously to your mtnd.
E·en more subtle phonological patlerning can be found in language, a., the
following contrru.ls help illustrate.
12)
pint 'paynk
fiend *fiemp
locked "Iockf
wTonged *"'Tongv
next *nexk
glimp e *glimpk
The words in the lefl-hand column obey an ob cure constraint on the selection
of consonant sequences in word-final position: when a vowel is long and
followed by two consonants (pilll) or when a vowel is short and followed by
three consonant sounds (next, pronounced 'nekst'). the final consonant mu,1
always be one made WIth the lOngue tip raised. (The con onants I, d. s, and
=are .~ade In (his manner: but consonants such as p./. I', and k are not.) Words
tbar lolate this phonolo~lcal constraint (the right-hand column) are unacce t-
able to.speakers of Engltsh. Even linguists have 10 dig deeply to uncover u~h
~alterrung. but.1n everyday language use. we routinely make decisions about
e ac~eptabJ!ity of forms based on subconscious knowledge of such
constramlS.
Consider one final example. Speakers of English know that there are
CCnatn structures In which the word I ti
or to a single individual outside that g:~u~~n re er to each member of a group
13)
Each boy who(m) the woman interviewed thinks that he . .
tS a gentus.
Sentence 13) can mean either that each b .
mteniewed thinks that he himself i . ?y In the group that the woman
PartIcular person nOl mentioned' t~ a genIus or that each boy thinks that a
to e sentence (say. the teacher) is a genius.
2.5
Grammar
3
C HAN G EABILITY:
G R AMMARS
C H A N GE OVER
TIM E
I " Nf,U" CI " "~l vir W 'J
HO ~t!r. un1) un~ ul thl"",,-lo Ith,,"'pll"lOlllnn'io
cntcnce. " pu') lhlc 10 the ",Hnwlng
1-1)
The woman who mter.lc cd cu,h hlly Ihmk that he i, a gentu,
In 14). lIe can referonl~ 10 ' 1m', ' .
. h ·h - j l c{ nc nUl mentluned. In the "Cnlcnl.:C In cuntrast
Wit w al happens m sem 'n" 11) I
d " _ . . C t.:l: - " It' ~an.nllt refer to each inutltdual In the
group eSlgnated by the phrase ""''' Imy S,nce 'peake" are ahle III make thl
~ontrast, they must have knowledge ot the relcvant grammalleal prtnClple
even though they arc not conscIously aware 0 It.
Linguist~ lise the lertn grulIII/llIr 10 refer to a subconSCIOUs lingublic ,y"cm
of a purucular type. Com,bting of several componenLs (phonellcs. phonology.
morphology. syntax, and semantics). a gmmmar makes pt",ible the produc-
tion and comprehension or a ptltcntlully unlimited number of ullerances.
Because no language can exist without a grammar and no nne can use a
language without knnwlcdge of i" grammar, the study of grammatIcal
systems has come to be the focus of contemporary linguistic analyst"
As nOled above, the grammatical knowledge needed to use and undersland
language is acquired without the benefit of insuuction and is for the most pan
suhconscious. Since we therefore cannot investigate grammar by ,imply
recalling prior training or by self-consultation, the study of human lingui,tic
systems requires considerable effort and ingenuity. As is the case in all
science, information about facts that can be observed (the pronunciation of
words, the interpretation of sentences, and so on) must be used to dra",
inferences ahout the sometimes invisible mechanisms (atoms, cell~. or
grammars, as the case may be) that are ultimately responSIble for these
phenomena. A good deal of this book is concerned with the flDdings of this
research and with what they tell us about the nature and use of human
language.
II is a well-established fact that the grammars of aU languages are constantly
changing. Some of these changes are relatively minor and occur very quickly
(for example, the addition of new words such as ethnic cleallslllg, Spill doctor.
YllPpie, glasllost. yobbocracy, able-bodism, cIllIIlTlel. illtemet. (Illtocnme,
IIl1kemare. l'egeburger. grullge and acid /rol/se to the voc~bul~ ot Engltsh).
Other change have a more dramatic effect on the overall fonn ~! the langu~ge
and ty pically take place over a long period of time. The fo~atlO~of negative
structure in English has undergone this type of change. Pnorlo LOO. Engh h
fomled negative constructions by placing ne before the vert> and not
(sometimes peled IJaWI ) after it.

.1,1
1'1
{J "'n 'el~I1"1 ,'11/.'11'1 SiI'J
b, Ik II 'I k,'lh II II ( ,I<, d."" nlll 'f"'ak')
By J41~) ..r Ih r,·. !>.'UI'. lit' ,h u"'J .llfrc<jllclltly anu ,/(11 (0. """I) typil:ally
',,','urrcU 1> .1, It ull r Ih' Icrn.
16)
a. J 'I..")c,' nut "h..' lnJl·~.
b, k ',11 n,l Ilh,' kill !!hl~S,
Ie I a, .1<l1 11111.1 ,Iho1ll IWI' ,'cllluries I,)ter Ihat English c1eveloped ils CurrCIIt
pr,I,-li,-,' "I' all<lIl ill!! 111>/10 nc,'ur afc~r only ccrlalO Iypes or verbs (such as d"
hili ,,, will, ,Ind SII "n). .
I7J
<L I I ill nnl ".) ell<' wonk (ICl'u,·' will say nOI th,' wnrds,)
b. He did nol sc,' the llllghls. (I','I'US ·He saw nOllhe lncgh".)
rhes: moJllj.:atillllS ilhhlralc Ih,' C.lenl 10 which gr.tmmars can change Oler
lime, The ,lnl,'lures ccncphllcd in 16) ,u'e archaic hy lOday stamlanh and
Ihose 10 15) sound cnmplelcly lilr<'ign to mosl speakers of modem English,
Puri~ts lie~ change
as decay
Through I~e cenluries. IOdlVIduals and organmilions who helieve Ihut cert::
lan.:lle., 01 language arc IWller Ihan olhers hal'e frequently expressed cOllcem
OH'r wh,1I ther perceive In he the delerioralion or English. Today, Ihe
ImnenlatlO:l,S ,Olthcse r,udsls e(ln ht'found in hooks like J. Simon', Paradigl1l.,
Lo.11 Refit< 1/(1/1.1 (1/. LUNt/(', 1I11d 1f,I Declille puhlished in America In 1980
and J, flon~) " rh,' Lallg/tagt' 1/'/11': RlICI'. CllIH (llId Ihe 'SllIlIdllrd Ellg/i.'h'
/.1.,/1, 11/ Brlll"h School.... which appcured 10 England in 1983.
'Dise.N~d English'
'ome of tht' denunciations of dccillll' h(lv~ taken the ~orm of'd' .
I h.·h II ' . 'J . ' IClIonanes In
I b t kIt' al rnents of Ihe languugc (Ire catalogued. A good example of such
:nd(~u'I~~a,n ~cnl1(l'latcd dleuo~'Ir) which was compiled by Kenneth 1JUdson
. 1,1,. YtnlH cd Th" /)/ '(I '" ••r D' ' .
1'-177 In the foreword to Ih"/. an, OJ I:'ellsed Ellglish, It WlIS published in
.s "llOn,lry, Richard Hoggart writes:
Th,' la'i half·ecnlury ha, seCIl 'Ollie powerful ' d ' , •
Ihe mereuslll!,! ,'om'plioll of Ihe Fligr.1 1 ,a" abundanlly JlISlllicd, Criticisms 01
Orwell IIIIU W.II. Audt'n C(1I1'''1 I 1
"
11 ' 1"1 angungt'. T,S, Eliol. FR. Lcavis. Gcnr"c
" lilt al Oll,'e Earl" '(11 th ' eo
pasSiOliale "SSCrt'on Ihlll Wll"ll ' I, , Ier SI , crt' was tail Pound's
I ' " angU'lge goes I th
11t1Ugh1.S 'IOu lCellllg' goes roUeli 100. ' . ro lell e vcry , ubstanee or our
.. Iludson'; dictIOnary is Intended to stellltil' . '
,llIlIl'L, the En"lish lanuua I I' I ' c rot by exposing lhe C(lJ1CCr th'lt
" . "ge. IS se C'I f '
luns 10 nearl) 260 page.s, A "n . I" c ,Ion, 0 examples of diseased Engli~h
nnnl' . ,I lp c 01 cntncs will give you a /lavaur of the
Eighteenth·century
reformers
SCf'anh 'Sl'f"UOI "IHWo" UII uh''''cnl' word. un (11'~ I.'
won ttl gt·t no fI:ph~s ell.,: 'i hn ,UVC.fh ,,' 10 'hc~ 1C'tntJ
Hudson scllnds "I II Illng Ime 01 PUI"I' wh.. have 'amh'l '
l.:hunge us cvitlcncl.' 01culpuhlc ~I"vcnhlcv", or wo ~ S.• ~Ictt ;t1l(1 rlhlUctl
I tI
• r...c . . 11111 <.Ir t..:OOl:crn, h
'cen expressc UboUllhc slacl' III I".ngllsh in Ilther Fnul h ' . 'We
"
hi" • ,," ,sPC"''''1I e,mnln
ant III 01 er ",loflclIl pCflOlls Thus, in IllS? membc I h ' .
I . ' ..., . . ' r () I c ( n',d,'u,
n'IIIUle ,n lomnltl hellrd a speech descnblng Canadian I'n h. , ' ,
diuleel growing up among'l UU.r populallon' The speake; ,;hl" t'''d a cth"rruPI
I, , I" I I ' . . . , " cc C hl t! u~
~) 0;( S suc,' n~ Of (I,m l ,hv""111 01 lantl l, bnH lim 'masle,'), .!lor" (tor
,hop l,ji (lor mend ), und guess (fur 'think'. as In J x"e", /'II g"l. Ju<.Igm.
by CUrrCnlllslIgc, he ohJected In vain, g
The feeling Ihac lhe langllage is 101lering at the edge of the ahyss wa.s
particularly strong In lhc eighleenlh ccntury. In l712, for example, Jonathan
Swift (Ihe aUlhor Ill' Gll/livN :, Travel,,) addressed a famous pamphlel enlltled
'A Proposal for COlTccting, Improving and Ascertaining Ihe English Tongue'
to lhe Lord Iligh Treasurer, Robert the Earl of Oxford and Mortimer Hc
wrote:
My lord. I do here, in the nome or all the learned and polile perso"s of the nalion,
complain 10 your lordship. as Firs! Millisler, thaI our language is e~lrcmcy unpcrIeel.
Ihal irs daily improvcmcnc, nrc by no means in proportion 10 Its <.Iaily corrupuons: Ihal
the prelenders 10 polish and refine iI, have chieOy mulliplied abuses alll) ab,unliues:
and. thaI in many IIlslances. 'I ofrends against every pan of grammar,
One of lhe many imperfections that troubled Swift was the 'perpetual
di posilion to shorten our words by retrenching the vowels' (and indeed entire
syllables) as in the abbreviation of replltalion to rep or the usc of contracted
forms of verbs such as ('(III '( for call1lOI and he:S for he is, although he had no
objection to Tis for II is,
Pudsts have always been eager to identify the culprits responsible for lhe
degeneration of the lunguage, Swift denounced 'illiterate Court-Fops, half-
witted· Poets. and the University-Boys' for the decay of Eng/i'h in his time,
In our day. the characters in the rogues' gallery have changed They uSllall>
include modern linguisls and the liberal education establishment. Lingllisls
are singled Ollt because modem linguistic science insists, as we have scen,lhat
its task is to describe language in all its variety rather than to dictate and polcce
'correct' usage, Unfortunately. this d.:scriptivist Slance ha. been lrustaken b)
critics for lhe espousal of the principle of 'Anything Goes', which IS ,aid to
have had a di,ustrous effect on the standards of English language tcaehing.

'1 If "POR ~ LlNl l ''I 't ,
.1.2
language
standardization
Dr Johnson's
dictionary
Grammars
---------------------------
----
The French and /lalian, hau alreuuy confrollled, a fc ccnturies before, the
arp=m prnt>lem vf linguistic" decline by setting up language acadcmit's. The
Italian ,keeuklllia ddt" Cru.f("(l was tilunded in 1582 anu the IC
"delltie
lrallrai1t'in 1635,These acauemit's proided !he mood hich Swi ft urgeti the
English '" emulate whcn he proposed the estahlishment. of a sOeiet) to
·a.<e-ena",' (i.e.. standardi/e) the English langu3ge anti slOP It from changing
hy prt'sait>"'g and pn>s,rihing usage,
Although thc call for an <lc3dem) I 'l never taken up hy the state. ccnain
concerned l'itilcns took it upon thcmseh·es [( safeguarti the purity of the
language. Before th,' cigh'ecmh ,emury Ias out, the English language was
codilied and ,tandurdi/eu hy /cicographer.; and grammarians.
The most notable of IhL'Sl' siandunJilers was Dr Samuel Johnson who, in
1755, puhlish,'dl DiCliOllllrt' oj rlt" i:.ilglish Lal/gllagl'. In the prcfucc, he
made the purpose of IllSdiclionury Cl) clear:
Tongu"-,, like govenlinenlS, have" nutural lendene), to degenemtion: we have long
p.....'ervN our consWllt"'", lei us mnl.t' some "ruggle for our language.
~Iearly, !he dietionary Wll' nOI mtentied by Dr Johnson to serve merely ns a
/rsU,ngofEnghsh v(lCabulUl")~ Rather. It Ias meant 10 he a vital weapon in the
uefenceot Ihe language agalllst decay As he pUI n. 'every language has Its
IInpropncues and absurtilllCs, hich it is the duty of !he Icxicog· h'
comel or proscnhc'. . rap cr to
~!r~:m~an~ t~o set ~bOUl the t<ls,," of preserving the purity nf the Ian U<I e
~ual dCkITIUII~UI(}1I anti enlhusiasm In 176') R h" L g g
who later becam(' Bishllp )1' L ti . . - 0 el( oWlh. a scholur
t on 011 j1ubhsheti h'·· ' 11 .
("ntltled A Short IlIlroell/cli", I F r ' · IS very tn lIelll,," lIanual
prdat'c that 'Ih' E
· /··h ''.. " .lIg /.III Gral/ll//ar Lowlh cOlTlplainec.J In Ihe
. c ng IS L.lInguagc as 1 . k b .. .
IMUon allti as It st'md, ',tl tho< I 't' . .'" spo en y Iht! pohtesl pull (.)1 Iht'
. " ' , TI lOgs 01 Our t
"gamst ne.... nan of Gr. . , . mos approvcc.J alilhors, o/lcnds
,. . , Ulllnl.lr. lie sho . d h
"lIIg James Bible allti thc 11l l ' '1: .' Ie. 0. even cht"tcs like tht'
('('11 In IUm'ell· II' " IsO cnllilent lInters like Dryden Pnpt' 'Inti
.. , ere lontamlOatcd b ' , ' . ' , '
L,, th cplallls Ihal '11' tl ] error For tnsIUl1CC. 1111 palle II ()
te SCntellcc bc c al' I e o ,
g 1 e. t 1e Advcrh 1101 IS plat'cd
4
BIOLOGICAL
SPECIALIZATION
FOR LANGUAGE
t ""'I.Uo., ""w Vllw l
aitl!f the ulhary u~"1t (lid IIal tou,:h h ," ..
then chtdes Dryul'n tur 'llll" '.1l1nrUIHI"I" '"n. lit. 1 10Ilt,,,.-(, hln no," II
' 'rh" ' I h o· , ,,, I' ''''''Kille ,,< C
t.: 11 .upe, 1l'~' I.unl. "ialll he, I 'j", (~/Jt'tltr (l.), vcrh 11m before the
Many ot the prCl:rI{l1VC nl"~' ul kn Ita... . t)'~ cn. I·uhl"f).
down over th.c la....' 2~O "C(f' l'" .. )J k.h ~ralllnMr that have been han"~'"
J 0 :.", ue. lr~.:cd hac.:... 1 A;U
hUll, SUccesSive gC'.ncratmlls ul nup,l' h l.... (' .I)wh lh.tn&.., Ul
' W . 0' 'liVe "cen laughl r
hen the Quallt,e, of lhllerenl Ih,n", . r' . ' on exampl", ,h.,
e>' . C I..:l'ImparcU Ih.
g.o'c:rncd~ not hy the C011JUn(.:lmn tJiw, 'r (I' . I.: aUl"r Nuun ,
. lI., or a ('no" .
govcrnmenl 01 ClS~',) hUI hy Ihe vern or lh p . Illelum II. nl!
I · . e n:p<lSllllln exp' I
lIlle ~rst()od. lienee. accon.ling tll 1.owth. one should sa 'Yn~' • rcs!-.Ct (lr
us I (nm *y()U lIro! not so u,lI as ""'). So he crilic,·,
...., sYI . are ""l "" tall
, ~. , w, I ur Wnlm" 'Y
are a much greater loser Ihun III,' by hIS death' (Swifl l p Q llU
P ,. • .. , . , . . . 11 ope, I..."", 1>1)
rescm-day us,lgc sh()ws Ih,1l the ertlln, 01 the PUWI, Ill' lh I
• . .., . ...ave C angu"ge
from such 'errors havc nm becn pnmcularly >,ucce"ful. .
.Lin.guiSis.rcjeci the view lhal languages altain a stalC <If perfectilln al llmc
POUlt In their hlSlory and thai suhsequcUl changes lead tll detenoratmn and
comlpl1o~. As noted :lbtlVe, there are simply no ground, for claiming lhal one
system 01 grammar IS somehow superior lO another. There IS therdore no
reason to lhink thal language change ca~ or will undennine the adequac) of
English (or an) olher language) as a medium of eommUnlCa110n.
As far as can be determined, the languages spoken in the world today cannOl
be traced to a common source. Rather. they seem to belong to a nlmrer of
distinct families hose histories can be traced back no more than a fe
thousand years. Archaeological eidence suggest· that language e,isted prior
to !hat time for perhaps as long as 100,000 years. bUl Yirtually nothing is
known about thb period of linguistic prehisto!) or aboul ho language
originaled in the fiN place.
one!heless, !here is every reason to believe that huma", have a special
capacity for language !hat is ~Ol shared by o!her creatures. The evolutionary
adaptation of certain physiological mechanisms for linguistic ends has
tlCcurred onlv in humans The so-called speech organs (the lungs, luryn..
tongue. tceth, lips. soft palate. and nasal passages) were and ,till are -
directh concerned with ensuring the survival of the organism. Table I J
t'ompares the linguistit: uses of the major speech organs ith their prim.u·y
survival functions in humans and llther mammals.
1n humans, these llrgam, have all become highly spedaliled for linguistic
ends. The vocal folds: for example. are more muscular and k" fatty tn
human than in non human primales such a:; chimpanlccs anti gllrill."
Because of a ven Ilighly tieveloped netork of neural patl1ays, thC) "btl
resl"lnd more pre~i,el) 10 eommanJ., from the brain, The same c,en'I1.' 'ct
of nl.'uml pathays allo" a high tiegR't' of controltwcr llther ~ech organ"
such m, !he tl'ngue. palatc, anJ Itps. ueh control eceeds lln)thlng fl)und In
even our c10scst pmnale relati e..

14
Summing up
tahl< U
Tc<lh
~ft.t'l·h /tull"/ion
,'un'waffund;::..n _ _ _ ---:.:.:......-:..-----
I" supplJ air ror speech
-;-0 t'L'hange l 0,1. U}~cn to pnxJuce voice for 'peech
to freah: al 0 (C r~""Jgc: III sountJ-'S
lung 10 articulale vowels and
to IlHlC' h)t-xl PJd. {(1 rhnlol
t
consonants
-
(0 provide place of articulation
for consonants
tt.) sealllraJ f.:unl)'
breathIng
10 articulate vowels and
consonants
to provide nasal resonance
d
.' I· d' all·ons of the evolulion of linguistic vocalization.
There are ad luona III IC . h' h .
.. b .k; f· u"ival respiration. speech breat 109 sows higher
(;nhke the reauung 0 , •• . . . . Abd .
. d lonaer e~halallon lime than resplrallon. omlOal
lune pressure an a =- . . ' b h'
~_I tho t are not nomlully employed for respiration are roug t IOto play
mu,. es a . . h .
In a "stematic and refined manner in order to maIntain t e ~Ir pressure
necdej for speech. Again. aspecialized, eXlen~lve scI ~f neurologIcal Controls
e elusive to humans makes this type of breathing pOSSible.
The preceding facls suggesl lhat Ihe human capacity for speech is
superimposed on already existing biological s.truClures. Evolutton .has pro-
duced a refinemenl bolh in degree and III kind through a long Interplay
OClween Ihe demands of language and Ihe development of the human speech-
producing apparalUs.
There is also evidence that humans arc specialized for the perception of
speech. II has been suggeslCd, for example, that we have special neural
mechanisms tbat enable us to perceive distinctions among consonanlS and that
these mechanisms are nOI found in olher mammals.
We know considerably less about the cvulutionary specialization for non-
vocal and non-audilory aspecLs of language such as word fonnation, sentence
formalion. and the interprelalion of mcamng. Nonetheless, it is clear thaI
some sort of evolutionary specialilalion mUSI have occurred. As we will see
111 Chapter 1.1,. specific parts of the brall1 are associated wilh each of these
hng~lsllc aC:lVll1es. ThtS suggesls that the human brain is specially slructured
for 1,lI1guage, and Ihal speclcs wllh dlf'fercllltypes of brains will not be ahl'
1<1 acquire or usc Ihe Iyp's of" ,. . . . . . . c
",'II . '.' .c. glamm.lrs .Issoclaled WIth human language. We
I lelUm 10 thIS POlClI111 Ihe penultimate chapler of this book.
Human language is eharaclerilcd h' "
"ccess In agramma • I·. YcreatIVIty. Speakers of a language have
.. . ' r, a menta sYMcm Ihat all h I'
Innuliar and novel utI· ows I em 10 oml and internrCI
CfJnces. The gra . I'
perccplll1n. and patternll1g of, 'ceh. mmar governs the articulation,
scmcnees, and the interpr 'tal' pel· sounds. the fomlallon of words lind
Cion 0 uttcrances AlII'
. . anguages have grammars
Note
Sources
Recommended reading
I ';
NUl all nuuns namlOg pcriod... lllllnlC c· n k. - - - - -
~ a If: Io:nn,cneu lott cbs
or rea<.ons thut are ~liH not unuer...u'K,,o the "(lUn>-, Ulllw ) ~e •n(}WeCT, 'hu •
very good "~rbs. 1111 and wt't'k dl. nllt Ihake
They aUlumnedJwcekcd til Scuthmd.
The disclission of word creation is based un an .tnu;! by E CI' I.. . - -
'WI 1" ve ar~ and I krh (,hr~
lcn nouns sur nce a~ verbs. 1l UmXIUI1-W 55: 767-8 (197lJ Th ' -' •
• b' 'd K H' I' . I 'P . . ). " WaInIO 11,1.
un.;: liSe .01'1 • ~ C !i artie c cn.on marktng tn Wabiri' in A F. I I "
I . ' .Ii sc. trljl Jur Murri,
H(/ /t', edIted by S: Anderson and P. Klp""ky (New York Hal. Rinthan & WIn'I"n
1973). The quotallon Irom Gnmm "Iaken lrum 0110 J.'pe"en uJ/lKua.~c: II, NUlur;
Del'e!opment and O"glll (London: Allen & Unwin. 1922 (page ~2). Jonalhan <;"'111'
.A proposal for correcting. IInproving and ascertaining the EnglI'h tongue' IS {rom
W.F. Bolton (ed.) The English Lall.~uage: E.,.",y.> by English and Amerimn Men of
LeITers 1490-1839 (Cambndge. Cambmlge Umverslty Pres•. 19661. The di'iCu,,,on
0 Lowth is based on Robert Lowth. A Slw" [",rodllclion co English Grwnmor
(London: Millar & Dodsley , 1762). The 1857 speech on the "atus of Canaulan
English is cited in Mark OrkIn's Speaking Canadian English (Toronlo: General
Publishing Company, 1970). The data on the positioning of negative elemenls within
scnlences in human language come from an article by O. Dahl. 'Typology of sentence
ncgalion'. Lingui,'tic.· 17: 79-106 (1979). The book by Bickerton. cited below.
provides a fresh look 311he emergence of language in the human species.
The exercises for this chapter were prepared by Joyce Hildebrand.
Aitchison. Jean. 1989. The Aniculale Mammal: All [lIIroduClioll 10 Ps),rho/illguislif.l.
3rd edn. London: Routledge
Ailchison. Jean. 1987. Lillguislics. 3rd edn. Teach Yourself Books. Sevenoaks. Kenl:
Hodder & Stoughton.
Ailchison, Jean. 1991. Language Change: Progress or Decay? 2nd edn. Cambridge:
Cambridge Univefity Press.
Bickerton. Derek. 1990. Ltmguage "nd Species. Chicago: UniversilY of Chicago
Pres.
Clark. Eve and Clark, Herb. 1979. 'When nouns surface as verbs: Lallguage 55:
767-8 II.
CrySlul, DUid. 1987. The Cambridge Ellcyclopedia of Lallguage. Cambridge:
.Cambridge University Press. .
Jackenuoff. Ray. 1993 PlJllerm //I 'he Milld. Harvester Whealsheat: Hemel Hemp-
stead. Herts.
Milroy. James and Milroy. Leslie. 1991. Au,horit)' ill Language. 2nd eun London:
Routledge. J I' d
Pinker. tew. 1994. The Lallguage [nstillct: The f',',.1' Science ofLangut/ge an III.
I.ondon: Allen Lane.

16 'J!'ITl~WO~AR LINGUISTICS
Qut!stions
. "bs creaLed from nouns in aCCordance
The followmg sentences conw,", vcr.' 1 of the chapter. DeSCribe ••_
1. d '~d '" secliOn ~'"
ith the process e,en
meaning ofeach of these new verbs.
) We-punk.rocked the nigh,t away. .
a rosS the arctic.
b) She dog-teamed her way ac
c) We ~1G'd to Perth.
d) We Concorded to London.
e) He Maradonna'd the baU into the net.
f) I microwal'ed the parslllps.
g) Sbe Robinson Crusoed in the Galapagos.
h) We· lI have toAjaJ<thesIlIk.
i) He Windolened the windows.
j) You should Clairol your hair.
k) Let's carton the eggs.
. I . Lhe preceding exercise as a model, create five new
2 Usmg the examp es III f th
. rb fro . BUI'ld a sentence around each 0 ese new verbs to
ve s m nouns.
show its meaning.
3. Which of the following forms are possible words ofEnglish? Solicit the
belp ofan acquainUlI1ce and see if you agree on yourJudgements.
a) mbood c) coofp e) sproke g) worpz
b) frail dJ ktleem f) flube h) bsam
4. Imagine that you are an advertising executive and that your job involves
invenling new names for products. Create four new forms that arc
possible words ofEnglish and four that are not.
5. Part of linguistic competence IlIvolves the ability to recognize whether
novel ulterances arc acceptable Consider the following sentences and
determine which are p<1"ihlc <,entence.. in English. For each unacceptable
sentence, change the senlence 10 make it acceptable, and compare the
IWo.
a) Ja~on's mother left him elt WIth nothing to eat.
oj Miriam is eager 10 talk 10.
c) This is the man who I IIKI!. a piuure of
dJ Colin made Jane a 'andwi,h.
e) Is tlle dog ~lecPlJIg the hone agalll'}
n Chns prepared Rllbin it ('ake
g) Mill cleaned the garden up.
h) Max cleaned up Ihe gardel1
i) Max dcancd up it.
J) Itbirr you 10 kav.'.
k) Ihal you like li'er sUll'ri.c, mc.
~. (oll,idc[ lh< lolloIl1g nlllllCs' I
'peake" oil ngil h It) I I I ' C.1l1 of whIch I nClcpt,lhl' III lillie
ll1~ach Ie. ' "" ellli YIhe Ille uiPIIVC rille Ih,Il.lf 11,,1.,11 d
a) He doo't know ahout the race.
b ) You was O
ut when t called.
c) Did you send ooe yen
d) There'~ twenty horses registered in the ,hl>w
e) That wlOdow's broke, ' " be carefut .
I) Jim and me arc gonna go campin' this weeke d
g) I seen the parade last week. n .
h) He been lost in the park for two huuf.
i) My car needs cleaned 'cause of all the rain.
j) Julie ain't got none.
k) Somebody lerttheir book 00 the train.
m) Murray hurt hisself io the game.
n) They've went to town.
0) She very kind.
17
p) Ah hink ... mibbe she wouldnac ov came if you,c'd telt her.
q) We sees her every day in the pub.
r) Did him give you de book you a-look for~
s) Phil does be working hard.

Phonetics: the sounds of
language
lichaelDobro~ JI:-f.; v andFrancis Katamba
HeJlerlv b/Ji.:J/517 3 "ori:/01 gull<rJb.
• "-3Iace 5/ee1lS
. d ~.~ need 10 p.:ak in order 10 use Janguage. Language can be "riUCh
e o.~ od ed b • t ' J' . ..,
.._.. ....am·-aJh and even pr uc } compu ers In Imlled "a' b I
teL~rucu ma::u t.. , ' . . J I U
Ot!ertbele. . peech remain the pnmary way "e encode II. Our pe.:ie
poke long before "e beg~ 10 "nI~ lan~uage down. and. a we a", in the
tiN cbapter of this book, thl Ion? hl~tory of 'poken language I reflected In
our analOmica/ ,pecializalJon for JI~ Humans also appear to have pecia/i/ed
neural mecbanism, for the pefcepllon of s~ch sounds. Becau'e language
and peecb are so closely hnked. we begin our study of language by
e~amjn/Og the inventory and structure of the sounds of language. This branch
ofIino uisti" is called phonetics.
Hu~an languages display a wide variety of sounds. called phon~ or
speech sounds. There are a great many speech sounds. but not an infinite
number of them - the c1a~, of possible ~peech sounds is finite. and a POnlon
ofthe total set will be found in the inventory' of any human language. Cenaln
sounds thai humans are capable of producing with the vocal tract do not OCcur
in peech. such as the sound made by inhaling through one comer of the
mouth. or the 'ra~pberry" produced by stiCking out the tongue and blo" 100
hard across it. Nonetheless. a 'ef)' wide range of sound!> is found in huma~
language. inc/udingsuch sounds a.. the click made bydra'ol.ing the tongue hard
away Jrom the upper molars on one side of the mouth. or the sound made by
constricting the insides of the throat a., you breathe out. The class of po sible
~peech sounds is also universal. Any human, child or adult. can learn how to
pronounce these sounds.
There are two way_ of upproaching phonetics. One approach studies the
phy~iological mechanisms of speech production. This is known as articu.
latory phonetics. The other, known as acoustic phonetics, deals with peech
ound 10 terms of how we hear them. To this end. it is concerned with
measunng und analysing the physical properties of sound waves we produce
hen we ~pe~. Both approaches are indispensable to an undef!>tanding of
pbonetlc . ThIs chapter focuses on articulatory phonetics. but also make
1
PHD ETIC
TRA~ CR IPTID
1.1
Units of
representation
f"H I I
. Ince the "~Ieemh centll£). elf ru have hec:n made to de",
,);,tcm lor Iran cnhlnllthe IInd f peech Ihe helot"
i nternatiOnal Phonetic tphuht!t til· ) h hec:n deve,lI<N.n
This 'Y'lc.·m "I tran'Cnp"un 31lempi I" reprelen! e:I
ch
"PUlg de'
h n~~~
'pe.:c . "Ith a "ngle 'ymhot. These ymbol. are en~lmed In brae
to ind,cale thai the tra'henp""n " phunetic IUId Jf. n represen I I
'pelling sy'tem of ,I pan,,:ul.r language. Fur cumple, 1M IOUnd t I~
Ih in Engli,h !Eis is t.....n"'nhcd a 1"1 (pr nounccd eli!. ao In ..::"U)
IPA u,cs th" symbol to repre'cn! the sound In "hleh"'er langu ge It
heard hec Table 2.). "hether I' I~ Engli h. Spani h. TllIkmen (a Turkic
language poken In Central ASIa and wnllen "ilb the ynlhc alphabet).
or any other.
fabtc 2.1 U", of 1')1 in me Internationat Phone"c Alphabel
Lunguulle Spell",/( IN I1tlVUng
Engh h !hi, It)1 J 'mis'
panish 1x$ (b:>claj '''eddlOg'
Turkmen llilak [aoak] "clOt
The use of a standardized phonetic alphabet enable linguist to Iran nbe
languages con,istentiy and accurately. In •'onh American u age. however.
some phonetic symbols differ from tho-.e employed by IPA tran cription F<>r
example. the sound heard at the beginning of the Engli h ord ~ark .
transcribed as If] in IPA. but usually as [ J in •'orth America. Thi book
employ IPA varianll>. but note .'orth Ame~can sym,bo! "here re~evant
If you wish to start practising the phonenc transcnpnon of Engli. h. turn to
Tables 2.16 and 2.17. page 42 to 43. for eltamples.
Am'one who heaT!> a language. poken for the fIrst lime fInd II hard to break
up ;he flow of speech into individual unill> of pr~uction: Ewn II. hen hearmg
our own languagepoken. we do nOl focus attenuon on mdlldual, und :l!
much as we do on the meanings of words. phrase . and entl!nce. Man~
alphabets. mcluding the IPA. repreent speech in the fonn ot segment!> or
individual peech sound!> like [a]. [01. [p1. or [mJ. l'.ing 'Cgment •howecr.
i. only one wa) to repre. ent peech. The ~llable. prccDted in Chapter 3. I
abo represented in ome writing ·)tem see Chapter 15. eClJons 1.2 32.
and 42). In one fonn of Japan.:,e writing. for example, Igu u h iJ'

I J
2
1 HI .. (H,NI).
"1101l11( 'N(,
~'''M
II.' h,ll" ""'111'" rho' "'~III"111 ,I' .111 Ill"""lulII 'IWl','h '<1111111 1'1
I .. llrl' ~I" ...
kill".
, "t l·/dl·lh,'
. II.ll Ml t}ll',r fhar 'P.';Ik.t·", h,l(.' III,' Jill 'II· I' I "'ll'fitl
.. " Il' fl.1t 1 I
Ih,lllIak,·., II 1'''''''''1<' h. """Ik "nIl II ,I .
,Ir 'a"l "I' 'I""'l'/I illl • I ' I, "<I~~
.. .. .. ' 'UtHh '"'U
Jm'I" III 'I~',','h I'rll.lIl,'I""1 pI III Id" nlll' kill" Oll'J'll'll" I. I "'""111
• , l (1 t ll' •
III l' ' 1IIl'Uh..S'lp, of Ih,,' ftll1 t-: lH,' ,
'Udl ;I, A o ltlf ·f )tlOI "'1' A I l 1h:IIl'l'
I I ( Or#flt '0/ )
/IIt~(,Jillf H Ili ttl( H', ' C~('"If·IIIf1I.,h'l '.·I.!I)I(.·t1I~ ,hltlifl" 111/ . . ' I ttl1d
.. .. ... ~. l fCo' 'r'H1~ ') ..
l IIhlll I""k fill' '1Il!~l·.," Ihill ""'lIIelll, Ill' illdlll,III.11 I 1"'"'"0
,C'I.. . .. • lilli' OJ,. I .
" nr<'!llle .1111.1,hlluld "t'It 1'1·." 'lIll·d IlIdllldualJ Itl' ' " '11 I 11I!:II"h~
. • _' . 1 ( Il"';.lIh.' •
11,,' rrlMII,' 1I11',ma1lU' ""11I.',·,'h s"und, in hlllll.'11 1
.111 'U "I nplIIIIl
1/ I / J .1 e.1 II 'Ih'" ,
1,1 ','glll'IlI:1 I' 1I111,'I,,' 'r,III." ·III'IIIIIl "a Wd/ ,nlll;V '11 ' / . . <oc<"
'. . I H - ,l uf 11~ln,· h
".,,',·<,h. II " 1IllI"""hlt' 10 1"pll'."'"1 all In 1111, ,.1' 111/111' . 'II IlIg
, , ,Ill 'IW"l'h
sll"',' II,. tllll' ',1
,1. ,hI' "'Ill" sOlllld III l' ''','lh lit,· ',UII,' 1 "I I .. N '"I1Il,h,
II j I I " - , Ill , OIl"lhL'!'
ll' '"1( .
,n '1',',','I " 'IIJ.1I11 III'analll l'IIUU~h tmrn lall~lI 'I ' I. <",
U, ,,, lr.1II,,'nhe ,hl'lll '111" , 1<'111II .' I' .
sllulld i, '1111 '11 II' /1.( 10 ,UI!!Ua~" 1o,
R t l . . ' , 1"SUIII"IIIFI'lh
II.
SSlall,I''. ·Iwk. Ih,' l'Il" Illal 1 h"11 pmdul'Il1g Il" soulid I' 'I I "/l " ,
IW.
" Ihl'lf "1" '''~'''"l'r hili Russ,.II' slwakers tlnl' i1wil.s "," h:;g Is I 'P,'a~l'I"
11,11 1I1,Ih' 'h,' '01111<1.
' ",/11'1,'111 ,' lIllll"lI In Illn ' I " . !! ) 1IIII.I,d du(.'
.. ,an s, p,lr,lI~s) Illh b Il
"""l1d.
,,, Jlld I .11,' d"'IIIt:l l'II"II~h Inlllll'Kh ()III"r 'I' I' " '. UI Ihr
I . , ,I ,III/?uag,·s IIll' '1.'
h ) .... "011·
""'·,1111' II ,III' <' III",d II IIh "'p"rall' ,) Illh"I" (, U "L'r
Sound i, PI.t!IIL'L·U 1 111'11 ,III " ' .:1in 1111111<111 Th' -
1II,'(lIal1ll1l ,IS ''IlI''''lill • ,.1<In I . I . . IlIk 01 II'" '/ll'l'ch Prudllt:lion
Illolion In 1 01' '1Iet'illl"lll 'I .' If ' 111'1' }, ,I suulld 'UllIn' Ihal"'I, Ill' .lIr III
. ' I l l ,1111 'u '~c,'h I" • I ' I
Ih.1I nlt>Ulfie, IhL' '''Wid III' .. ' . '( ilL lUll , ,lilt! ;I '<'I of filier,
. I,ll IOU' II a I , 1'/1 '· I
lUll!!, rh,' SUunusolIl'L'L' I., III II ' ., ' . . (.111 ,uPI' Y ,.
S plm l"I'd II) Ih"
'"CII' fo.d.
, (," H)CUll'(lrrj,) I . 'l, .Ir;tII,Wlll're a "'I 01 IlllIsL'1t·. l'ulIL'd IhL'
I : 'L' o,'ated. Thl' frll ' . • I
,11.11 . Ih,' luhl' "/Ih,' III' )'11 I I CI'.' .1." II,' IIl t'ans ,'h'lIT IltL'
'. "'L'L'II Ihe 01'11 .. I
"'';IIIlII Ihe ,lhlll" II III ' " 1 ' L,l II} HIl' II.ll'LIIYII '.llIl'h
" , (tII,1 <'''I'll, all/II ' .. I .. . '
I""'''!!l'' all' (',.lkl'l" 'II ~ , I Ie 11,1,1 L,lIl1y (hgllr,' , I). I h,''''
( , 111)111 .1' Ih,' 'I/('al 'rllct
2, 1
The lun!lS
1.2
The l.uynx
NU',il l"a 11 "
thlld IlIkl
()IHI""I1 Ity
'l.'l·~lId "'h'l
Ph;u IlX :
1",1 1t1l "
1'111 'N,l I I(
IIRun" 2. ' 11w ~Cluntl ·plodllllllg 'y~lt'm
11"
, llyn
'h' IlHlt oUrl"('''
1'l;lI tol IUl"!
Wllhtl h ,1 yn )
.UIl'
.ur 1
Innhnn
In oloer III produ,,' Ihc 1Il'1J11t lly III 'Olllld, III 11ll' wodd', LIII Ilia 'C', we ,,,I.e
Ulr illlllihe IlIn!!, .lIId Ihell c. pI.'! il outing 'pecdl 1: ,mall 1111mhcl 01 ""1II,1-
arc lIIaOe wIIh.m ,IS It nllW, inlo Ihl' lx:allra~1 '" w will SL'C In 'celoll Ill:!.
helm ) . l'l'nain It'vel 01 .lr pre"ure Is necded III keel' Ihe 'l~edllle(hal1l 111
flllll'llollng ,Icadily, rhl' pICMIIC " lIlainlalll<:o hy Ihe aL"lUII 01 V,fl'I~ eh
uf tllu,.:lcs (111I1I1Ig inl,1 play ounllg Ihe l'OUN: or an ullcrolilce rhe Illll des
un: plimarily Ihl' intcn'o,tab (Ihe 1II11,de, 1"Il:Iwccn Ih,' nhsl .Ild Ih
dinphruJ:lIl (lhe lar ", ,hel'lol llIu,de Ihal "'paralc' Ih,' l'he'I'~I II Ifllm Ihe
.llxlolll,'11l.
As all nows OUlllf Ih,' IlIllf' lip Ih,' tnll'hclI (lIIdI'IP"), 1 Pol''', Ihmllgh a
1>olil-,' stru,'lure llIade of cllrtilage '"I1.! ll1uwk, IIll' I,U'I" «((HI1IIH1ly
I.111m n '" Ih,' "1l1"" IlI Of dam's appk; hgun: ~ 'I, rhl' Itallll'"rtlllll IIf Ihe
larlll' " fl'rlm:d h Ihe thnoid cllrtilllJ:C, whl,'h sl'lea,l, 0111, Id h~c Ih,'
he;ld of a rll'u 'h.-("lIe Ih)lI.id l"allilage re'" Oil Ihe nn' h,lpcd ,'ricnid
l'lIrtiluAc Hnl ,he"" 01 IIlII,ek l1are fn'llI Ihe Illnel sid ~ 01 Ih.: l.tryn ,
1,lllllin'lhe ("Iired 11,,,11 fold, (I1(',lll'IIld,,The '1(',,11,,10' Ie <.I'h Illach ,I
III the' Ih~lIlid .:.mila!!,' al Ih.: In.nl ,.f lhe lal)1, ,nd In Ih Ilf)tenuid
";Illilag," ,II Ih,' h<ld. rhe IX'.II fllid ,"UI he pulled ,11'.111 If d, In d r

2.
2.3
Glollal states
Voicelessness
Voicing
( I u~
"
L~
~Th'~"-
cilrtdJge
f
CricoiJ /
cartilage
/
Trochea
Figure 2.2
f I' b from Ihe back; c, from above. with the '0C<l1 folds In the
The laTvn,",' d, from lhe eel""'..:" 'ndicale muscles, a number of which have been
The slllal • ~s . Ie I
openflOSItoon. , ' 10 show lhe carrJiages more c ar y
eirrW>ated from rhe drawn8>
1, Id may be positioned in a number of ways ro produce differ;;;-t
The voca 10 5 , ' . F'
The firsr rwo glo((al states presented 10 Igure 2.3 arc cOmmonly
glor[al staleS, , , h th' d d '
d 'n nlOS[ of the world s languages. T e Ir escnbes the glott"1
encountere J • • • u
," I nderlies a common speech phenomenon, and the founh IllUstrates
.stare wa U d' E I' h
one ofa number ofgloual states not encountere m ng I' .
When me vocal folds are pulled apan as illustrated in Figure 2.3. air passes
directly through the glonis, Any sound made with the vocal folds in thh
posiIJon is said 10 be voiceless. You can confirm a sound's voicelessness by
touching your lingers to the I~nx as you .produce it. ~ou wi.1I not feel any
librarian from the vocal folds bcmg transmitted !O your fingertips. The initial
sounds ofjish. ~illg, and ~ollse are all voiceless.
When the vocal folds are brought close together. but not tightly closed. air
passing between them causes them to vibrate. producing sounds that arc said
10 be voiced, (Sec Figure 2.3, where the movement of the vocal folds during
l'OIl'I/I!! b indicated by the wavy linc.) You can detemline whether a sound IS
loiced in the same way you determined voicelessness. By lightly lOudllng the
lingers to the larynx as you produce an extended version of the initial s()unds
of the words ;il' or!:(}II'. or any vowel. you can sense the vibral1o(J of the vocal
Ill/ds within the larynx.
Whisper
Murmur Yet another glottal ...tute pruduc.:c... i. tnurmur o1h." .
Sounds produced wtth thh gluual confJllur'ltl I . known as. "'bi.'M!r) "Ct~t
, 'I d It ~ . 'n .ro VOlcell h ~-
~lre rt: ax.e to a 0 enough air tn C...t:'IJ)c 1 'K1 • U tin:' &'tlCa h,h
effect. . • u pn tu.:e a MmultUI)i:l)U! ""'hi pery
The. c lour glottal statcs rcprescnt only 'Om f h
production at the gtOltis. Comhined with V-tr'll)U:~) ,1 c
,~hMhihlte", ot tlUIt.
I . ~ :~ anlCU altOn" m~d' . L.
arynx. thcy produce a WIde ran"c 0 nhllnC' B 'f ." C · " "0 the
d
' . t:' I' .. c ore eX~lU1mng th.
clall. we WIll first consider thc three rna'lor cl'''' t' h C"", In more
. ~.~e~ 0 pone
Voiceless Voiced Whisper Mumur
Figure 2,3 Four glottal state,s: t~e stylized draWing represents the vocal folds and glottis (rum above;
Its antenor position IS towards the top, The small triangles represent the arytenOid
cartilages which help spread or close the vocal (aids,
3
SOUND CLASSES
3.1
Vowels, consonants,
and glides (syllabic
and non-syllabic
elements)
The articulatory
difference
The sounds of language can be grouped into classes. based on th~ phonetic
properties that they share, You have already seen what some of these
propertie can be. All voiced ,ounds. for example. form a c1a>s. as do all
voicele s sounds. Sounds fall into two major classes. vowels and consonants.
Another cJas " the glides. ,hare properties of both voweb and consonanls.
Vowels, consonanh and glides can be di tinguished on the basis of differences
in articulation. or by their acoustic properties. We can also distinguish among
these elements with respect to whether they function as syllabic or non,
syllabic elements,
Consonantal sounds. which may be voiced or voiceless, are made with a
narrO or complete co,ure in the vocal tract. The airtlow is either blocked
llIomentaril) or restricted so much that noi 'e is produced as air now pa,t the
con"triction. Vowels are produced Ith little obstruction in the vocal tra.:l and
are generalI) voiced.

24 (()NTf MPOR ~R~ IINGUIS TIe s
Tht' acoustic
difference
Syllabic and
non-syllabic
Glides
. 'Ilt!renct! 10 articulation. consonants and vowc l~ di
A, a re,uh (If Ihl: d, Vowel.... are more sonorous than con.l)onanL. and frer in
the w") the) ",und, d r and longer lasting, (You can observe this .'0 "0
perceIve them a' lou end vowel sounds in your pronunciation of Wo ~f You
compare (he c:on...onanr a rU. Itke
pel and "'It/.)
of vowels aJlows them to form the basis of sYllabI
TIl ••reater ,nnonty k f" es A
C e r d phonetically as a pea' 0 sononty surrounded b .
,yllanl. can be ~e rnSeonorous segments have a richer Sound Lhan non_y Ie,s
rous ,cpmcnIS. d h ' sono
sono e Ie the words (/ an go cac COlltalO onc sYllabi -
's ) For cxamp , , c. Ih
rou, (Jne, , . 'yllables, and the word lelepholle three syllabi . e
d !rlllglllllil IWO S ' fl" Cs, In
wor. e s lIables in these words, we are In e ect eOUnllng the vOWeb
counting Ih Y 'd t I'orm Ihe nucleus of a syllable, In section 5 71
't V'I'I' A
I is thus "" 0 " I be
vowe ' , types ofconsonanLs can form syllaolc nuclei as weli It '
shown that certam '. . , ' IS a
, h' rc 10 Lhmk of vowels and consonanL' not Simply as type
ood Idea, t erelO , , , ' S of
g. ' . bUI 'IS element.> that mayor may not be .sYlla.blc, In I) the I
'n't' I
artJculauon~. , . . . . 1 la
.'ound~ of Ihe words In Ihe left column are all consonants, those On the right
are all vowels,
I)
lake ~b()'c
far! ~I
[eel ~I
jump jl
illink ygly
!Jell open
Table 2.2 .'ums up lhe differences between the two classes presented so far,
Table 2.2 The maj"r Jifcrenccs between consonant' and vowels
~"'t'l (and OIlier nHublc elfm"II/I) COl/5(1nallls (/Iflll·wl/ahit' elemelllS)
--------------------~--
are produced "uh rel,""rly little are produced with it narrow or
ob,trucllon In Ihe "1<.-.IIr""t complete dnsure 10 Ihe voc," IraCI
art' more SOIlOroU"i • arc less snnor()u"i
A type of soulld lhal,hows propertIes 1)1' hoth COnSOI1Hl1ls ~nu vowels Is l'alled
a glide GlIde, lIlay hl' thought of as rapidly arl1C'IIJUletl VOWl'iI, Thl 1 lite
auditllr) tnlptl'"ioll Ihey proUUll:, Gliucs arc pmcJuecd wilh 01" anlell ial/oll
IIkt' thaI "I a "owd, However, Ihey move qUickly 10 anOlhu ,trllllllati'lI1, "
dlllhe 1I1111JI glIdes 1Il"'IlI 11',"
h"'l Ihllll·It Ihe) Ifl' IJw~l·h~r In unJeltl.lilon, gild 's 1'.1111'/11 III 111111111111
~ WIISIIII;II1i, 1111 c~all1l'lc. IIdes C;1Il IlC~cr lorm Ihe lIuclllJ 11/.1 1I,Ink
IlIle 'IIucs hllw 1'11I1't'rtll' 01 hlllh ('IIIL")II.tIll ,lilt! I}wds. Ih le'IIll
4
CONSONANT
ARTICULATION
Airfl.ow is modified in the oral cavity b th - - - __ _
,. . Y e placement f th
posltlomng or the lips. These modifications 0, e l(m%Uc anu h_
f ' I' Th . OCcur at spec fi 1 .."
o arucu allon. e major places of articulal'lon d : I Ie p a.&..:c. ()£ .l(I'nlS
I, ed' ,~ ' . use In '~'ech '
out 10 In UllS section. Figure 2.4 provides 'ds" 1"'- pnld,uc.;lon are
' . amI aglttal sect'
View, of the vocal tract on which each 1 f . ,on. or tUlawa)'
indicated, pace 0 anlculatlun h",. hoen
AJveopalatal / ;
~a~al cavity
Alveolar ridge: (f'.." Palate. P7alLalS
alveolars ~ ~ I
Teeth: dentals /. ~ I /
~
/-'Bod I fVelum: ,elm
Lip : labial ~-;. -Back t- t;, ula: uUlar;
Tip ( Root ~PhaI)n'" phaI)ngeal
BI3.d~/ ,~
GIIltl, gk,nal
TrJchea -----':,--'"
h.:urt' 2.4 TI", -,lItrdCt.
4,1
TIll' I(lnglll' Th pnmary lfti.:ulaung rgaD l th lOngue. hich t I) 'Ie 1 can be
rill l'd, 1(, "mi, thru t Ii rward or drawn b.l k d even r ned b c fhe Ide
of th tongul' an I [) • rat r 10 ered

1(, ("'I[Mr,,~ RY IIN(.UI~ ", S
4.2
PI.I< l' of
drlic ul.llion
Labidl
Dental
Alveolar
Pdl,1I0-dlveoldr and
p,lIdl,11
PhlII1CU-': deS("IlplHIfI fl.'It.'IS ", tj'C' ur~a, llf 111l' Inugut,,_ I"he ti
arca AI III In.nl 1",1 t>dllllli the lip lIes Ihe Illade. The . p 1. Ihe nat
,. h h' d ' m.lln III' ..""'
longue I~ ("".tlled th(,~ hod) ••lIlu' (,.~ 10 mo.,( pan ul ,the tUIl'uc . ,I S of the
muulh " ,·al"'.1 Ule llu,"I. n", btlJ} and had 01 Ihe Ion l,h.1l be. III ••.
d Th guc C"I .'"
rctcrn.'"d (0 ,00nth u thl'" ortum c root 01 the tungue I, . I ..he) ~_
" h <I'lIIall1 ..• . '..
upper p.lr! ollhe Ihrtl.lllp aIY"'). c" In In.
I:;h POIIJl II "hlch Ih, aiN~cam can !'" m~dlflcd III ProdUCe a d'
",und I' L'.!lkd ,I place (or POIllt) of artIculatIOn, Places of.' II IcrcOI
I . . artlcu"'l
luund .lllh,· lop". wllhm Ihe ora cavlly. 111 Ihe pharynx, and al th ' IOn are
e gill""
Any ,,,),,,d milde wllh d(lSUre Ilr neflr clo,ure of lhe lIps i, said h
OIunds II1volvIn!! oolh Jrp' ure lenned bilabial; sound, invOlvil:': t~ labial
hp and upper ,leeth a,re called labiodcntals. Eng",h Ineludes lh
g
, ~ lo"c,
l ' d e hliab
heard word-lnrlJally In eeer. 7111, an mom". and the labl~" IU"
. - vuentals h·,
inillilll}' In!!r,· and 1'1/11 card
Some phones :lIe produced wilh the longue placed itgainst or n .' h
' c,III Ctc'h
Sound, mucle In Ihls way arc called dentals, If the tongue Is plae 'd he Ct,
d . I h' d ,e ·tl.e·
Ihe, lCClh. the ,soun I,S SW{ 10 e mter ental. [nlerdcnlals In En i"h ' co
, /'h d I ' d glSarCth
inllwl consonanls 0 I e wor -' !Jr.• an !.!J,ing. (Some EngllShs .. . C
produce , and: u,s denial,s: sec scelron 5.3 for morc delails.) peakcJ1!
Wilhm lhe oral cavily. 11 small ridge protrudes from jusl behtnd lh •
h Th" I d I . ' e upper fronl
reel. IS ISca Ie Ile alveolar ridge. The tongue may touch b. b
I · 'd . h d' , or c rought
IIC.ar I lIS n ge JJ1 I e pro uClron 01 certain sounds whl'ch ',r" h ' d '
, - ~ cncc escr he I
as alveolar, Alveolnr "()llnds arc heard al the beginning of Ihe fOBo~' '(
'7ngllsh w(lrd,: lop. dt'er. loaf!. jJp. {ip. and !leek. Some languages sue Ing
Spanosh. have an rlhallS mude wilh lhe longue touching the aIVC(JI;r·ridg;. as
JU",I behind Ihe alveolar ridge the roof of the mouth r's'es -h' I Th'"
k ' " arp y. IS arca
110 nU,wn as Ihe palli/o-lIlveolar urca (or alveopaJa'''1 ' b
I' h . , .... In some ooks) Th·
lIg esl pat1 III lhe mill of Ihe moulh is called Ihe palale 'd I " C
II h' ,an soun,s produced
WI J I c longue 1111 or ncar Ihis area arc called palatal~ P' lat . I I
COllson,lIIls arc heard III the followlI1g english words '} '. a 0 ,a veo .ar
'Ind ' I" Th' d .. ' . ' . , rllW, ItU' {/,'ure ("Illp
• Jl/l'1f." CWOI' '1I11i1ll1 phone 111 yes is n palalai glide "
The soli <lrea lowards Ihe ..' f II f '
Sounds maUl' wilh Ih I reat () le 1'00 01 lhe mOlllh IS called Ihe w lum
Vl'la" arl! heard 1'1 I,e '"ug/'ue lout:hlllg 01 l1;ar lhl,' P"'1l1011 arc Gtlk'd ClaJ":
I ,ng IS 1 al Ihl' hegllll ,. h
Ihe end ot Ih., "ort! h,,", 'I he I'd' I ,1.lIlg n I e. word, I'lIII ,tnt! 1(0. i111t1 ,II
, g I c le,lrd word Inliially III 11"1'1 is <'"Ik·" it
Uvulars
Pharyngeals
Glottal
5
MANNERS OF
ARTICULATION
5.1
Oral versus nasal
phones
5.2
Stops
lub io elar "IOI,:C lill" 'UI~U
..H the "'alnt.' Uml."
"tIfH-4l lie
I r.u "I
The area of the throal between the uvula and the Iii nx t
p harynx. SOllnd~ made thruugh the modifi(';'ltl(In f r
Y
t1
~ .:.Ih~n ;l~ th
, • 0 air ow m lh •
rctmctmg the tongue or c,un"ltricting Ihe phary rc~"m hy
, nJ< are called pha .
Pharyngeals can be round on many dialec" of Arab'le b ' rynll,.a,
• u nh tn Lngh h
Sounds produced by ."ing the vocal. fold, as the pn'm'.ry an' I
. ~ leU atoN are
called glottals. The sound at the begmning of the English wonl heuI' and
!Jug IS made at the glottis. -
The lips. tongue. velum. and glottis can be positioned 0 different way' to
produce different ,ound types. These various conftgurallon~ arc called the
manners of articulation.
A basic distinction in manner of articulation is between oral and nasal
phones. When the velum IS raised. cutting off the airflow through the nasal
passages. oral sounds are produced. The velum. however. can be IOl.ered to
allow air to pass through the nasal passages. producing a sound that is na.sal,
Both consonants and vowels can be nasal. in which ca.se they are generally
voiced. (UnleS' otherwise noted. all nasals represented in this chapter are
voiced.) The consonants at the end of the English words SUI.!. SU!!!. and SU~
are na. al. For speakers of orth American English, the vowe! of words "ueh
as bqnk and lI"!rrk are also nasal,
Stops are made l.llh a complete and momentary clo,ure of airtlllw through
the vocallraet. thus pn:veming the escape of air via the mouth, In the world',
language. stop' arc found at bilabial. denial. alveolar. palatal. velar. uvular.
and glonal points of articulation.
The glottal Slop is commonl) heard III many popular British diakcb
(instead of the ltJ in the Queen', Engli'h) in wonls like burrer. ",uler and
bouit· This glottal stop i often ,pel1cd with an aposlrophl! li>l,'a. a'er and
1>" I).
In English. bilabial. alveolar, and elar oral and nasal stops occur III the

grid for ..top
II ";'T-~
,..:xU- Ii-red ID 131>1' ~ ~ ~ lie Ih~1 101 .1,><" n,lI ,,,,cur "'r..r-inlllall~ lQ
Eogli-
[pI
Ibl
!!.1311
1011
..~un
III
!l<"
(dl
El"l(
(nl
r
(ll
',~ :.. ,~11
lli..~ PI'
eg)
,"-...! l!!£
101
V'.., belo" ) (7)
Table 2A pre.ent> a phonetic grid on which the -.rap con, onanL~ of Engli,h
are ranged horizontaJl~ accordtng (0 place of arnculatJOn, A, ) ou can 'ee
each >£oP, wim one exception, has "oiced and 'oicele s counlerpan" Th~
gloo.11 ;!OP j' .11'3)' "oicebs, It is produced with the! vocal fold drawn
f1ITl11y lOgemer. 3nd since no :ur can pa" through the glottis. the ocal fold,
C3DDot be set mmotion,
T8ble!.~ Engh;h ,to(" and !beir tnlIlscripuon
Bilabial A/,rolar I,,-Iar G/olla/
d: [PJ [tJ [I.] [7j
iced [b) Id) [g]
'", I ;m) [nJ [Q1
rricathes are con.onant produced ," ith a continuow' airllo through the
mouth. ~e belong [0 nlarge ~Ia, 01 ound! called continuants (a <:1,1, that
aJ mclude ocl; and glide ). all of which 'hare thIS pmp.:n} The
: 8me- fann a ~laI. la ofcontinuant: during their produclton. the) arc
prodmpam d b) a nbnu u audtbk nohe ~auc the :ur u cd in 'ihctr
UCbon p ~ through a eI) narm" opening lTallIe 2.~. t>clo).
Engl; h frkati~es
Agrid for fricatives
tHO (1,
Glolttll'ifort' "'«In" oj tirrit-"lurulfl TYllflScrlpnj'lI1
u,hiotlt'nfc,l
oicet!~~ fal III
ok~d tat !
Intr:'rUt'I1Ctd
·l"Ii~ele~~ mm lSI
Voiced lhl'....e !3
AI'eolar
'ol~ele~~ .:-In£, lsI
Voiced !lP 11.1
PalalO-llh·t'vlar
Voicele,s ;;hlp U1
Voiced 3!ure 131
Glortal
oiceless hal {hI
pecial note must be t3ken of the al"eolar fricari,'es ls1 and (z1. There are
twO wa) that English speake£'> commonly produce these sound" orne
speaken; raise the tongue tip to the al"eolar ridge tor to Jll;t behind the upper
front teeth) and allo the air to pa, through a grooved channel in the tongue
Other :peaker> form thi. "arne channel uing the blade of the tongue: the lip
b placed behind the lower front teeth.
Tahle ~.6 pre ents a grid on which the fricative consonant of English are
r.lnged according to place of articulation_ As in Table ~.s_ dental> are n<'t
&,tingui 'hed from aeol=. ,mee mO.t language h3e sound Ith eIther
one or the other place of articulation. but not both, .'ate that IP. mand [:,
corre,p'-'nd re,pecli'el~ It' 'orth merican [~l and [il.

.5.4
{(r;cates
Pala,.,.a/,-rola, ~
UJ [i;J---.-
1.31
'ben a ,top.lflJcuJarion i, relea...ed. me lOngue moves mpidly a"a~
I - I t" Some non-continuant consonanrs show a slo" relea
p ace at anteu a I<m, • E r h Of
th" c/ qJre; th"''' sound, are called affricates ng" h"" _
only 1'40
affricar",. buth of" hi.:h are palara-alveolar. The} are heard ,,:ord-Jnllia/ly III
h h J . anJ "'" transcribed as [tD and [d31., respeCll vel} (The r"
Lurr: an J."mp, " J < " h - r,
tran....TiplJon of an affricate US109 a .symbo ,or a srop. sUc as [rl Or [dj,
foUo"d b} a s}mbol for a fricative Ilke en or (3) " meant ~o reflect the fact
that an affricate Is n ,top that is released graduall} so thar In It>. final Phase
it is a fricari,'e.)
A grid for affricates Table 2.7 presents a gnd showing the .two English .affricates: Note thai IPA
[rD and [d3J correspond 10 NOM Amencan [el and [J I rc:~peCtlve ly,
Sfridents and
sibilants
Table 2.7 English affricares
Voiceless
~oiced
Palato·alreo/ar
At the beginning of thjs chapter. it was noted that acoustic as well as
articulata!)' criteria are sometimes used in de cribing speech sounds, An
acoustic critenon comes into play to describe fricalives and affricates. These
sounds are subdivided into two types, some of which are distinctly lOUder Iltm
others, These noisier fricatives and affricates are called stridents (Table 2,8).
Th.eir quieter counterparts. which have the same or nearly same place of
artJculalJon, are conSidered non-strident. Slridents are also known as
sibilants,
Table 2,8 Strident fricatives and affricates in English
Place ofArticu/atiml iliceieJs Voiced
Alveolar
Is] [7J
Pa/alo-alveolar
III [31
Itn [d3J
5.5
:-____
Voice lag and
a piration
NU1Nl11
111 (ll
After.th~ rclc.tU" 01 l"l~n.HI1 "h.;.cl" h.lps tn , ngh h l
percCIC a lag Jr nnel del.,) hcture the fl~lIg <I I '11) lU ,
h I h ' 11 Q ""',"P I <
t c: ag t
.n t c nn'CI 01 (l.:,Ih-.: "Oh.:m~. I a":"()n .1 L.. C I,,,,, '-~nc
. eo ... 'p.mICu u) the fet r
the trathuonat tcnn hlf thh phcnoln~nt)n I ~pi~,t' 1 !!ale 0 .Ur
II " . 'Q 'on 'I I'.n fit"", h
a ~ma nlt....e
. tl h uher the- U'Ptf.lll!tl ..:un,on"tnt 1 Ll_ 1 t ,,"
1 . - . ~ , • . iJ,1l C , J pr '''"k; nne
~. ,amp es nl a~plr~lkt' lmd Ulli.hplralcd I,;'ununant tn l' .I h
bol . ... .nl! ,... I ~Um ~o'W
S) m s arc mtnx!ul:cd here "... well). Nnlu.:c.' that the f,( u d L h
. • 'd ' d ' '.. " > n I.... ave n.1lh
~S~lfah.:: 'll~ urM~~lr.uct.l llncth! an.! all "Diede....... :-.lnp . In Hhcr Ian u
olcelcs::, fncul1;t!s ant.! atlnl..."<lte, may al.....) he a'pu;!lcd I)r unw {Hrclll!d.g g ,
Table 2.9 · ..pmu~d und un."pmttc:d f.:1.)n,nnanl... in En~h'h
p;rtllt:'d U,w.P"dll"d
Ip"",,]
I,",bl
[k",ul
pm
lub
kJu
--- - ---
bp.cl]
[ I.'h]
Isk.u]
Figure 2.5 shows how a"piralion of a voiceless con'onant lakes place,
using the aspirated consonant [phI as an e)lample. Though the se4ucnce of
articulalions takes places continuously. the tjgure illustrate, only certain
moments.
a
Lips cJ""ed for Ipl
b
Lip' open for
,o",el ill
Vocal fold, 'prend Vocal folds , till spread:
for voicelcs!;ness voicelc!'>!<.nes:-' continues during
inItial phose of vowel
articulation (a."pirntion)
Lip:, remain open
for 'owel
Voicing of ,,'owel
now begins
d
up n:nwn open
for III
Voicing contmuc:-. during:
artll.:ulatll.1n of til
----------------------------- TIme
'--------------------______-.
figure 2.5 Aspirated consonant production (EnglishpJfI.
a) As articulation of the voiceIe . consonant is begun, the gll'lIi, "open.
b) The closure for the consonant is released and the vowel articulation
begjns; however. the glottis i, nm yet closed enough to pennil oicing to

2 STirS
begin Becau of lht>. the m,eI is bnetly oicele '. glVlO
imp Ion ofan xlra release ofJllf thaI we call asprmllon. g Iht
cl Afla a shot! dela). mea urable '" miUI..econd . voicing of lhe '0
be!!"~ .
dJ 1bc IJps r"malO open and "Oleing continue; during the arllculal"'n of
final ..onsonanl of the ..ord. Iht
Fi
---c- '6 an·' , 7 sho" lhe relalion belween aniculalion and VOl· ..
;;~ > _. U _ . Clng r
allll' pJrarcd and vOl cd consonants. The unasplrated consonant. 'uth ~ Or
[PJ 01 Engli h ~pilJ hows "oieing of the vowel slarting very ()( lht
release of the con onanl articulation. The voiced initial [bJ of Engl'af~r
hov.s oicmg starting ju I before the release of the bilabial artiCUlillo~~ bia
• b
c d
Upo opeD foc 1.1 up' clmcd for Ipl lip' opro fo.-IIJ L'P'rrnwnopen
arucula""" 0( lJl
ffl
~ ~
~<?
r V-
I../>
bcal fold .preod VocaJ fold, n:maJO '-'>Cal fold, In P'"Ilion Voklng COflltnUC1
(or vmccleunc 'IKad (oICcleunc ((lr (J'I(,:lRg
Tunc
Figurt 2.6 lJnasporJIL..tconsonant pro<Ldion rEngish spill.
D h
i..p> OflCn (or [I)
VOIcing conUliun
C
LIps rrmam OJlCn dunnl
Anl<ul.lIon o( III
~
-
--
"".''''''
'J.
~
( T"
It!
....
- - - - - - - - - - - lime - - - - - - - - - -_
flgur~ 27 trJc(1f wnSOOJnt d
5.6
Liquids
laterals
English rsounds
PH Nl It( H
Among lhe sound. c,'mmonl; found In lhe: ,. -:
the" numeroo, varianl . The) lorm <KId Lmgua -I and r and
liquid!. II pcual tl of <.onsonant:;. noo..11 ..
VanCI;C' of I are called latcral~ A I' I' I· .
01 I.:nl. S. <lfe artlculat.td.
Ihrough Ihe mouth along Ihe loll.ered .d., of Ih . . au e ape.
.. . d e longue When the:
Up "ral'" 0 Iile dental or a"'eolar l""II"n I..·· d 1. longue
. '''' enla or alveol I
are produced. BOlh may be U'dn,cnbed a.. Ill, at aleta!!.
Becau.", lateral" are generally "llIced the lenn lar l· -> I
t . • • • era u~ .... one u'5Ual
?,ean, , olced laleral . Sull. Ihere are in'lance of voiceless laterah m ~
rhe vOlcele" denIal or alveolar laleral i wnllen with an add aI t>=:b.
bol II d d
· .. I · . 1110n Phoncuc
,y.m : ca e .a lacntlc. n thIS case. lbe dIacritic IS a circle benealh be
,>mbol.lll- VOIceIe" laterals can be heard In Ihe pronunciation of the E Ii.t
",ord, please and clear and also in the Wehh pronunciauon of '1/" ;~gOCR
name. a~ Uandaff
umerous varieties of r are abo heard in the world·, languages. Thi. !.<:Cuon
describes some of the types found in Engli. h.
In received pronunciation (RP for shon). Iile generall, accepted VarlelY
of spoken standard southern British English. r is a post-aheolar appro ·-
iman!. The tenn approximant lor frictionJess continuant describes a
consonant with a manner of articulation that involVe> bnnging Iile articulator;
quite close togeliler while at theame time leaving a sufficientl) large gap
between them for air to e cape ",ithout causing audible turbulence. T~plcal1).
in the RP articulation of rCa!> in reed and raw). the tip of the toogue IS brought
close 10 the area just past the alveolar ridge Ihence the label po I-alveolar)
without making finn contact with the roof of the mouth. The tPA ~mbol f r
this ,ound is [J]. but for conenience the ~mbol [r] is oormall~ u....
'1. A
voiceless appro)llmam can be heard in the pronunciation of ord like pra,.
free.
- The r of Englih as it i, 'poken in Canada and the Coited State· a.' well
a' In southwe. t England is alo an approximant. But its place of articulatton
is slightly farther back.This r (ymbolized b~ [-Ll in IPA) is made by curling the
lip of the tongue back sO that a narrow apcnmc is left bel",een the undc"lde of
the tongue and the back of the aheolar riuge. (The same effect can be obtained
b) bun:hing the tongue upwards and ba~k In the mouth.) It is kno" n a., a
relrone, r and i' heard in rid.. and car. It i aho often tran,cribed as trl
l1'0110 ing a common com e~tion of uSIng non-Roman alphabet Ymhol like
I.ll sparingly I.
Another ound commonl} identified "'1th r I. the flap The !lap IS produced
"'hen the tongue tip. trike the aleolar ridge as il pa"c' aCfO" IL III beard
111 the. ·orth American English pronunciation of bi!.!er and burter•and 111 orne
Brili h pronunciations of n'!y (a' in . couse. the dialect of Lherpool). It i
commonly transcribed as [r] and i. generally VOICed Table ~.IO presen the
latcrab. r. and flap In diftcrcnt ,andlc of Englbh.

Here are the key points acknowledged in the preface:- The book aims to provide an introduction to linguistics as a discipline by covering its major subfields through separate chapters written by different authors. - The chapters are intended to be relatively self-contained rather than comprehensive surveys of each subfield, allowing students to read them selectively.- The goal is for students to gain a broad overview of linguistics while focusing more deeply on particular areas of interest through writing assignments.- The editors hope the book will be a useful resource for those new to the academic study of language

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